diff --git a/docs/CHANGELOG.md b/docs/CHANGELOG.md
index 0c67ef791f..74bd50eb1e 100644
--- a/docs/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/docs/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -44,9 +44,10 @@ The following tip changes can be tested by building VictoriaMetrics components f
 * BUGFIX: [vmagent](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmagent.html): fix a panic during target discovery when `vmagent` runs with `-promscrape.dropOriginalLabels` command-line flag. See [this issue](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/3580). The bug has been introduced in [v1.85.0](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/CHANGELOG.html#v1850).
 * BUGFIX: [vmagent](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmagent.html): [dockerswarm_sd_configs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/sd_configs.html#dockerswarm_sd_configs): properly encode `filters` field. See [this issue](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/3579).
 * BUGFIX: [vmagent](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmagent.html): fix possible resource leak after hot reload of the updated [consul_sd_configs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/sd_configs.html#consul_sd_configs). See [this issue](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/3468).
+* BUGFIX: [vmagent](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmagent.html): fix a panic in [gce_sd_configs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/sd_configs.html#gce_sd_configs) when the discovered instance has zero labels. See [this issue](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/3624). The issue has been introduced in [v1.85.0](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/CHANGELOG.html#v1850).
 * BUGFIX: properly return label names starting from uppercase such as `CamelCaseLabel` from [/api/v1/labels](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/url-examples.html#apiv1labels). See [this issue](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/3566).
 * BUGFIX: consistently select the sample with the biggest value out of samples with identical timestamps during querying when the [deduplication](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/#deduplication) is enabled according to [this feature request](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/3333). Previously random samples could be selected during querying.
-* BUGFIX: [vmagent](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmagent.html): fix a panic during GCE service discovery for instance without any labels set. See [this issue](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/3624).
+
 
 ## [v1.85.3](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases/tag/v1.85.3)
 
diff --git a/lib/promscrape/discovery/gce/instance.go b/lib/promscrape/discovery/gce/instance.go
index a9c37f4c5f..49bee6232a 100644
--- a/lib/promscrape/discovery/gce/instance.go
+++ b/lib/promscrape/discovery/gce/instance.go
@@ -160,10 +160,8 @@ func (inst *Instance) appendTargetLabels(ms []*promutils.Labels, project, tagSep
 	for _, item := range inst.Metadata.Items {
 		m.Add(discoveryutils.SanitizeLabelName("__meta_gce_metadata_"+item.Key), item.Value)
 	}
-	if inst.Labels != nil {
-		for _, label := range inst.Labels.Labels {
-			m.Add(discoveryutils.SanitizeLabelName("__meta_gce_label_"+label.Name), label.Value)
-		}
+	for _, label := range inst.Labels.GetLabels() {
+		m.Add(discoveryutils.SanitizeLabelName("__meta_gce_label_"+label.Name), label.Value)
 	}
 	if len(iface.AccessConfigs) > 0 {
 		ac := iface.AccessConfigs[0]