diff --git a/docs/CHANGELOG.md b/docs/CHANGELOG.md
index 45ea1b5af..7952c1661 100644
--- a/docs/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/docs/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ Released at 2024-02-14
 * FEATURE: [vmalert](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/#vmalert): support [filtering](https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/2.49/querying/api/#rules) for `/api/v1/rules` API. See [the pull request](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/pull/5749) by @victoramsantos.
 * FEATURE: [vmbackup](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmbackup.html): support client-side TLS configuration for creating and deleting snapshots via `-snapshot.tls*` cmd-line flags. See [this feature request](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/5724). Thanks to @khushijain21 for the [pull request](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/pull/5738).
 
+* BUGFIX: [vmagent](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmagent.html): reduce CPU usage when `-promscrape.dropOriginalLabels` command-line flag is set. This issue has been introduced in [v1.96.0](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases/tag/v1.96.0) when addressing [this feature request](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/5389).
 * BUGFIX: [vmauth](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmauth.html): properly release memory during config reload. See [this issue](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/4690).
 * BUGFIX: [vmauth](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmauth.html): properly expose `vmauth_unauthorized_user_concurrent_requests_capacity`, `vmauth_unauthorized_user_concurrent_requests_current`, `vmauth_user_concurrent_requests_capacity` and `vmauth_user_concurrent_requests_current` [metrics](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmauth.html#monitoring) after [config reload](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmauth.html#config-reload). Previously these metrics didn't work after config reload.
 * BUGFIX: [MetricsQL](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/MetricsQL.html): properly propagate [label filters](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/keyconcepts/#filtering) from multiple arguments passed to [aggregate functions](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/metricsql/#aggregate-functions). For example, `sum({job="foo"}, {job="bar"}) by (job) + a` was improperly optimized to `sum({job="foo"}, {job="bar"}) by (job) + a{job="foo"}` before being executed. This could lead to unexpected results. See [this issue](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/5604).
diff --git a/lib/promrelabel/relabel.go b/lib/promrelabel/relabel.go
index f59fe3889..41995e84e 100644
--- a/lib/promrelabel/relabel.go
+++ b/lib/promrelabel/relabel.go
@@ -629,9 +629,10 @@ func LabelsToString(labels []prompbmarshal.Label) string {
 // SortLabels sorts labels in alphabetical order.
 func SortLabels(labels []prompbmarshal.Label) {
 	x := promutils.GetLabels()
+	labelsOrig := x.Labels
 	x.Labels = labels
 	x.Sort()
-	x.Labels = nil
+	x.Labels = labelsOrig
 	promutils.PutLabels(x)
 }