diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/BytesRefHash.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/BytesRefHash.java
index 381088f5b55..baa51b426de 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/BytesRefHash.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/BytesRefHash.java
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ public final class BytesRefHash extends AbstractHash {
 
     /**
      * Return the key at <code>0 &lte; index &lte; capacity()</code>. The result is undefined if the slot is unused.
+     * <p color="red">Beware that the content of the {@link BytesRef} may become invalid as soon as {@link #release()} is called</p>
      */
     public BytesRef get(long id, BytesRef dest) {
         final long startOffset = startOffsets.get(id);
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/terms/StringTerms.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/terms/StringTerms.java
index b130e263a6a..668d8c3389c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/terms/StringTerms.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/terms/StringTerms.java
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ public class StringTerms extends InternalTerms {
 
     public static class Bucket extends InternalTerms.Bucket {
 
-        final BytesRef termBytes;
+        BytesRef termBytes;
 
         public Bucket(BytesRef term, long docCount, InternalAggregations aggregations) {
             super(docCount, aggregations);
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/terms/StringTermsAggregator.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/terms/StringTermsAggregator.java
index 7ef4626b4ac..7d54338a31a 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/terms/StringTermsAggregator.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/terms/StringTermsAggregator.java
@@ -234,6 +234,8 @@ public class StringTermsAggregator extends BucketsAggregator {
         final InternalTerms.Bucket[] list = new InternalTerms.Bucket[ordered.size()];
         for (int i = ordered.size() - 1; i >= 0; --i) {
             final StringTerms.Bucket bucket = (StringTerms.Bucket) ordered.pop();
+            // the terms are owned by the BytesRefHash, we need to pull a copy since the BytesRef hash data may be recycled at some point
+            bucket.termBytes = BytesRef.deepCopyOf(bucket.termBytes);
             bucket.aggregations = bucketAggregations(bucket.bucketOrd);
             list[i] = bucket;
         }
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cache/recycler/MockPageCacheRecycler.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cache/recycler/MockPageCacheRecycler.java
index 42639690a66..082be6d82b9 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cache/recycler/MockPageCacheRecycler.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cache/recycler/MockPageCacheRecycler.java
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.TestCluster;
 import org.elasticsearch.threadpool.ThreadPool;
 
+import java.lang.reflect.Array;
 import java.util.Random;
 import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentMap;
 
@@ -51,7 +52,7 @@ public class MockPageCacheRecycler extends PageCacheRecycler {
         random = new Random(seed);
     }
 
-    private static <T> V<T> wrap(final V<T> v) {
+    private <T> V<T> wrap(final V<T> v) {
         ACQUIRED_PAGES.put(v, new Throwable());
         final Thread t = Thread.currentThread();
         return new V<T>() {
@@ -67,6 +68,14 @@ public class MockPageCacheRecycler extends PageCacheRecycler {
                 if (t == null) {
                     throw new IllegalStateException("Releasing a page that has not been acquired");
                 }
+                final T ref = v();
+                for (int i = 0; i < Array.getLength(ref); ++i) {
+                    if (ref instanceof Object[]) {
+                        Array.set(ref, i, null);
+                    } else {
+                        Array.set(ref, i, (byte) random.nextInt(256));
+                    }
+                }
                 return v.release();
             }
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/RandomTests.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/RandomTests.java
index 10f0d537bcd..9e7c21353a1 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/RandomTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/RandomTests.java
@@ -148,8 +148,9 @@ public class RandomTests extends ElasticsearchIntegrationTest {
 
     // test long/double/string terms aggs with high number of buckets that require array growth
     public void testDuelTerms() throws Exception {
-        final int numDocs = atLeast(1000);
-        final int maxNumTerms = randomIntBetween(10, 10000);
+        // These high numbers of docs and terms are important to trigger page recycling
+        final int numDocs = atLeast(10000);
+        final int maxNumTerms = randomIntBetween(10, 100000);
 
         final IntOpenHashSet valuesSet = new IntOpenHashSet();
         wipeIndices("idx");