diff --git a/data-plane/dispatcher/src/main/java/dev/knative/eventing/kafka/broker/dispatcher/impl/RecordDispatcherMutatorChain.java b/data-plane/dispatcher/src/main/java/dev/knative/eventing/kafka/broker/dispatcher/impl/RecordDispatcherMutatorChain.java
index cb818cffeb..b7b95619bc 100644
--- a/data-plane/dispatcher/src/main/java/dev/knative/eventing/kafka/broker/dispatcher/impl/RecordDispatcherMutatorChain.java
+++ b/data-plane/dispatcher/src/main/java/dev/knative/eventing/kafka/broker/dispatcher/impl/RecordDispatcherMutatorChain.java
@@ -38,8 +38,11 @@ public RecordDispatcherMutatorChain(final RecordDispatcher next, final CloudEven
 
     @Override
     public Future<Void> dispatch(ConsumerRecord<Object, CloudEvent> record) {
-        return next.dispatch(
-                KafkaConsumerRecordUtils.copyRecordAssigningValue(record, cloudEventMutator.apply(record)));
+        final var n = cloudEventMutator.apply(record);
+        if (n == record.value()) {
+            return next.dispatch(record);
+        }
+        return next.dispatch(KafkaConsumerRecordUtils.copyRecordAssigningValue(record, n));
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/data-plane/dispatcher/src/main/java/dev/knative/eventing/kafka/broker/dispatcher/impl/consumer/CloudEventOverridesMutator.java b/data-plane/dispatcher/src/main/java/dev/knative/eventing/kafka/broker/dispatcher/impl/consumer/CloudEventOverridesMutator.java
index b70fbf367b..ccfb0edbf4 100644
--- a/data-plane/dispatcher/src/main/java/dev/knative/eventing/kafka/broker/dispatcher/impl/consumer/CloudEventOverridesMutator.java
+++ b/data-plane/dispatcher/src/main/java/dev/knative/eventing/kafka/broker/dispatcher/impl/consumer/CloudEventOverridesMutator.java
@@ -35,6 +35,9 @@ public CloudEventOverridesMutator(final DataPlaneContract.CloudEventOverrides cl
 
     @Override
     public CloudEvent apply(ConsumerRecord<Object, CloudEvent> record) {
+        if (record.value() instanceof InvalidCloudEvent) {
+            return record.value();
+        }
         final var builder = CloudEventBuilder.from(record.value());
         applyKafkaMetadata(builder, record.partition(), record.offset());
         applyCloudEventOverrides(builder);
diff --git a/data-plane/dispatcher/src/test/java/dev/knative/eventing/kafka/broker/dispatcher/impl/RecordDispatcherMutatorChainTest.java b/data-plane/dispatcher/src/test/java/dev/knative/eventing/kafka/broker/dispatcher/impl/RecordDispatcherMutatorChainTest.java
index 4b00532d84..f504dca99b 100644
--- a/data-plane/dispatcher/src/test/java/dev/knative/eventing/kafka/broker/dispatcher/impl/RecordDispatcherMutatorChainTest.java
+++ b/data-plane/dispatcher/src/test/java/dev/knative/eventing/kafka/broker/dispatcher/impl/RecordDispatcherMutatorChainTest.java
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 package dev.knative.eventing.kafka.broker.dispatcher.impl;
 
 import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThatCode;
 import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.any;
 import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.argThat;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
@@ -24,12 +25,14 @@
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
 
 import dev.knative.eventing.kafka.broker.dispatcher.RecordDispatcher;
+import dev.knative.eventing.kafka.broker.dispatcher.impl.consumer.InvalidCloudEvent;
 import io.cloudevents.CloudEvent;
 import io.cloudevents.core.builder.CloudEventBuilder;
 import io.vertx.core.Future;
 import java.net.URI;
 import java.time.OffsetDateTime;
 import java.util.UUID;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.ConsumerRecord;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 
@@ -74,4 +77,22 @@ public void shouldCloseInner() {
         assertThat(succeeded.succeeded()).isTrue();
         verify(next, times(1)).close();
     }
+
+    @Test
+    public void shouldNotThrowOnInvalidCloudEvent() {
+        final var next = mock(RecordDispatcher.class);
+
+        final var called = new AtomicInteger(0);
+        final var given = new InvalidCloudEvent(null);
+        final var chain = new RecordDispatcherMutatorChain(next, in -> {
+            assertThat(in.value()).isSameAs(given);
+            called.incrementAndGet();
+            return given;
+        });
+
+        final var givenRecord = new ConsumerRecord<>("t1", 0, 0, (Object) "abc", (CloudEvent) given);
+
+        assertThatCode(() -> chain.dispatch(givenRecord)).doesNotThrowAnyException();
+        assertThat(called.get()).isEqualTo(1);
+    }
 }
diff --git a/data-plane/dispatcher/src/test/java/dev/knative/eventing/kafka/broker/dispatcher/impl/consumer/CloudEventOverridesMutatorTest.java b/data-plane/dispatcher/src/test/java/dev/knative/eventing/kafka/broker/dispatcher/impl/consumer/CloudEventOverridesMutatorTest.java
index a96ec0580e..a0661cb77c 100644
--- a/data-plane/dispatcher/src/test/java/dev/knative/eventing/kafka/broker/dispatcher/impl/consumer/CloudEventOverridesMutatorTest.java
+++ b/data-plane/dispatcher/src/test/java/dev/knative/eventing/kafka/broker/dispatcher/impl/consumer/CloudEventOverridesMutatorTest.java
@@ -16,8 +16,10 @@
 package dev.knative.eventing.kafka.broker.dispatcher.impl.consumer;
 
 import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThatCode;
 
 import dev.knative.eventing.kafka.broker.contract.DataPlaneContract;
+import io.cloudevents.CloudEvent;
 import io.cloudevents.core.builder.CloudEventBuilder;
 import java.net.URI;
 import java.time.OffsetDateTime;
@@ -56,6 +58,30 @@ public void shouldAddExtensions() {
         assertThat(got).isEqualTo(expected.build());
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void shouldNotThrowOnInvalidCloudEvent() {
+        final var extensions = Map.of(
+                "a", "foo",
+                "b", "bar");
+        final var ceOverrides = DataPlaneContract.CloudEventOverrides.newBuilder()
+                .putAllExtensions(extensions)
+                .build();
+
+        final var mutator = new CloudEventOverridesMutator(ceOverrides);
+
+        final var given = new InvalidCloudEvent(null);
+
+        CloudEvent ce = null;
+        assertThatCode(() -> {
+                    mutator.apply(new ConsumerRecord<>("test-topic", 1, 1, "key", given));
+                })
+                .doesNotThrowAnyException();
+
+        final var got = mutator.apply(new ConsumerRecord<>("test-topic", 1, 1, "key", given));
+
+        assertThat(got).isSameAs(given);
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void shouldAddKafkaExtensionsWhenNoOverrides() {
         final var ceOverrides = DataPlaneContract.CloudEventOverrides.newBuilder()