diff --git a/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc b/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
index 6d1f43e1103..1fc2fd7e9cc 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
+++ b/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
@@ -238,6 +238,7 @@ https://github.com/elastic/beats/compare/v7.0.0-alpha2...master[Check the HEAD d
 
 *Auditbeat*
 
+- Log to stderr when running using reference kubernetes manifests. {pull}17443[174443]
 
 *Filebeat*
 
diff --git a/deploy/kubernetes/auditbeat-kubernetes.yaml b/deploy/kubernetes/auditbeat-kubernetes.yaml
index b62f056cce8..05b5fa23016 100644
--- a/deploy/kubernetes/auditbeat-kubernetes.yaml
+++ b/deploy/kubernetes/auditbeat-kubernetes.yaml
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ spec:
         image: docker.elastic.co/beats/auditbeat:7.8.0
         args: [
           "-c", "/etc/auditbeat.yml"
+          "-e",
         ]
         env:
         - name: ELASTICSEARCH_HOST
diff --git a/deploy/kubernetes/auditbeat/auditbeat-daemonset.yaml b/deploy/kubernetes/auditbeat/auditbeat-daemonset.yaml
index bdd38cd3919..783bf6efb6c 100644
--- a/deploy/kubernetes/auditbeat/auditbeat-daemonset.yaml
+++ b/deploy/kubernetes/auditbeat/auditbeat-daemonset.yaml
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ spec:
         image: docker.elastic.co/beats/auditbeat:%VERSION%
         args: [
           "-c", "/etc/auditbeat.yml"
+          "-e",
         ]
         env:
         - name: ELASTICSEARCH_HOST