diff --git a/app/vlagent/kubernetescollector/processor.go b/app/vlagent/kubernetescollector/processor.go
index 314a903199..0e5772f84d 100644
--- a/app/vlagent/kubernetescollector/processor.go
+++ b/app/vlagent/kubernetescollector/processor.go
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ func (lfp *logFileProcessor) addLineInternal(timestamp int64, line []byte) {
 		})
 	} else {
 		// vlagent should override the timestamp from CRI to the timestamp parsed from the log line.
-		n := fieldIndex(parser.Fields, *timeField)
+		n := fieldIndex(parser.Fields, getTimeFields())
 		if n >= 0 {
 			f := &parser.Fields[n]
 			v, ok := logstorage.TryParseTimestampRFC3339Nano(f.Value)
@@ -199,12 +199,12 @@ func (lfp *logFileProcessor) addLineInternal(timestamp int64, line []byte) {
 			}
 		}
 
-		logstorage.RenameField(parser.Fields, *msgField, "_msg")
+		logstorage.RenameField(parser.Fields, getMsgFields(), "_msg")
 	}
 
 	if len(parser.Fields) > 1000 {
 		line := logstorage.MarshalFieldsToJSON(nil, parser.Fields)
-		logger.Warnf("dropping log line with %d fields; %s", parser.Fields, line)
+		logger.Warnf("dropping log line with %d fields; %s", len(parser.Fields), line)
 		return
 	}
 
@@ -398,6 +398,24 @@ func initExtraFields() {
 	parsedExtraFields = fields
 }
 
+var defaultMsgFields = []string{"message", "msg", "log"}
+
+func getMsgFields() []string {
+	if len(*msgField) == 0 {
+		return defaultMsgFields
+	}
+	return *msgField
+}
+
+var defaultTimeFields = []string{"time", "timestamp", "ts"}
+
+func getTimeFields() []string {
+	if len(*timeField) == 0 {
+		return defaultTimeFields
+	}
+	return *timeField
+}
+
 var partialCRIContentBufPool bytesutil.ByteBufferPool
 
 var criJSONParserPool fastjson.ParserPool
diff --git a/docs/victorialogs/CHANGELOG.md b/docs/victorialogs/CHANGELOG.md
index 289676c7dd..8666d9e5cf 100644
--- a/docs/victorialogs/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/docs/victorialogs/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ according to the follosing docs:
 * BUGFIX: [OpenTelemetry data ingestion](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victorialogs/data-ingestion/opentelemetry/): properly handle `null` values inside arrays. Previously, such arrays could cause a panic during ingestion. See [#869](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaLogs/issues/869#issuecomment-3627177567). The issue has been introduced in [v1.40.0](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaLogs/releases/tag/v1.40.0).
 * BUGFIX: [OpenTelemetry data ingestion](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victorialogs/data-ingestion/opentelemetry/): properly skip attributes with missing key. See [this report](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaLogs/issues/869#issuecomment-3631307996).
 * BUGFIX: [OpenTelemetry data ingestion](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victorialogs/data-ingestion/opentelemetry/): reduce memory usage after [v1.40.0 release](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaLogs/releases/tag/v1.40.0). See [#869](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaLogs/issues/869).
+* BUGFIX: [Kubernetes Collector](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victorialogs/vlagent/#collect-kubernetes-pod-logs): properly handle unset [`-kubernetesCollector.msgField`](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victorialogs/vlagent/#kubernetes-collector-configuration) and [`-kubernetesCollector.timeField`](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victorialogs/vlagent/#kubernetes-collector-configuration) flags. Previously, vlagent didn't apply the default values described in the documentation.
 
 ## [v1.40.0](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaLogs/releases/tag/v1.40.0)
 
diff --git a/docs/victorialogs/vlagent.md b/docs/victorialogs/vlagent.md
index 75d671df37..220fe8e645 100644
--- a/docs/victorialogs/vlagent.md
+++ b/docs/victorialogs/vlagent.md
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ as [`_msg`](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victorialogs/keyconcepts/#message-f
 - `msg`
 - `log`
 
-You can change the default list of `_msg` fields by passing `-kubernetesCollector.msgFields` command-line flag with comma-separated list of field names.
+You can change the default list of `_msg` fields by passing `-kubernetesCollector.msgField` command-line flag with comma-separated list of field names.
 
 `vlagent` extracts timestamp from the log line and uses it as
 [`_time`](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victorialogs/keyconcepts/#time-field) field, using the following fields: