diff --git a/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/PrivateCellUtil.java b/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/PrivateCellUtil.java
index bf514d81c5a2..e7957ba8ba54 100644
--- a/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/PrivateCellUtil.java
+++ b/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/PrivateCellUtil.java
@@ -2261,6 +2261,18 @@ public static int writeFlatKey(ExtendedCell cell, OutputStream out) throws IOExc
       + Bytes.SIZEOF_BYTE;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Deep clones the given cell if the cell supports deep cloning
+   * @param cell the cell to be cloned
+   * @return the cloned cell
+   */
+  public static Cell deepClone(Cell cell) throws CloneNotSupportedException {
+    if (cell instanceof ExtendedCell) {
+      return ((ExtendedCell) cell).deepClone();
+    }
+    throw new CloneNotSupportedException();
+  }
+
   /**
    * Sets the given seqId to the cell. Marked as audience Private as of 1.2.0. Setting a Cell
    * sequenceid is an internal implementation detail not for general public use.
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/replication/regionserver/ReplicationSink.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/replication/regionserver/ReplicationSink.java
index 8610a6d43bd7..16f115f592f8 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/replication/regionserver/ReplicationSink.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/replication/regionserver/ReplicationSink.java
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.CellUtil;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseConfiguration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HConstants;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.PrivateCellUtil;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.TableName;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.TableNotFoundException;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.AsyncClusterConnection;
@@ -281,10 +282,15 @@ public void replicateEntries(List<WALEntry> entries, final CellScanner cells,
               }
               addToHashMultiMap(rowMap, table, clusterIds, mutation);
             }
+            // Clone the cell. It may be used to construct a mutation for applying the edit on
+            // the local cluster. Some operations may still be in flight even as we fail to apply
+            // some other in-flight mutations and trigger failure handling including a release
+            // of the buffer underlying the cellScanner that is sourcing the cells.
+            Cell clonedCell = PrivateCellUtil.deepClone(cell);
             if (CellUtil.isDelete(cell)) {
-              ((Delete) mutation).add(cell);
+              ((Delete) mutation).add(clonedCell);
             } else {
-              ((Put) mutation).add(cell);
+              ((Put) mutation).add(clonedCell);
             }
             previousCell = cell;
           }
@@ -334,6 +340,8 @@ public void replicateEntries(List<WALEntry> entries, final CellScanner cells,
       LOG.error("Unable to accept edit because:", ex);
       this.metrics.incrementFailedBatches();
       throw ex;
+    } catch (CloneNotSupportedException e) {
+      throw new IOException(e);
     }
   }