diff --git a/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc b/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
index 23230265c179..c40b7352b5e7 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
+++ b/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
@@ -39,6 +39,8 @@ https://github.com/elastic/beats/compare/v6.8.0...6.8.1[Check the HEAD diff]
 
 *Filebeat*
 
+- Skipping unparsable log entries from docker json reader {pull}12268[12268]
+
 *Heartbeat*
 
 *Journalbeat*
diff --git a/filebeat/input/log/harvester.go b/filebeat/input/log/harvester.go
index 52731f97ef35..c0422538642e 100644
--- a/filebeat/input/log/harvester.go
+++ b/filebeat/input/log/harvester.go
@@ -278,6 +278,10 @@ func (h *Harvester) Run() error {
 				logp.Info("End of file reached: %s. Closing because close_eof is enabled.", h.state.Source)
 			case ErrInactive:
 				logp.Info("File is inactive: %s. Closing because close_inactive of %v reached.", h.state.Source, h.config.CloseInactive)
+			case reader.ErrLineUnparsable:
+				logp.Info("Skipping unparsable line in file: %v", h.state.Source)
+				//line unparsable, go to next line
+				continue
 			default:
 				logp.Err("Read line error: %v; File: %v", err, h.state.Source)
 			}
diff --git a/filebeat/reader/docker_json/docker_json.go b/filebeat/reader/docker_json/docker_json.go
index 0f08630c26aa..b6efa092b54e 100644
--- a/filebeat/reader/docker_json/docker_json.go
+++ b/filebeat/reader/docker_json/docker_json.go
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/elastic/beats/filebeat/reader"
 	"github.com/elastic/beats/libbeat/common"
+	"github.com/elastic/beats/libbeat/logp"
 )
 
 // Reader processor renames a given field
@@ -185,7 +186,8 @@ func (p *Reader) Next() (reader.Message, error) {
 		var logLine logLine
 		err = p.parseLine(&message, &logLine)
 		if err != nil {
-			return message, err
+			logp.Err("Parse line error: %v", err)
+			return message, reader.ErrLineUnparsable
 		}
 
 		// Handle multiline messages, join partial lines
@@ -201,7 +203,8 @@ func (p *Reader) Next() (reader.Message, error) {
 			}
 			err = p.parseLine(&next, &logLine)
 			if err != nil {
-				return message, err
+				logp.Err("Parse line error: %v", err)
+				return message, reader.ErrLineUnparsable
 			}
 			message.Content = append(message.Content, next.Content...)
 		}
diff --git a/filebeat/reader/docker_json/docker_json_test.go b/filebeat/reader/docker_json/docker_json_test.go
index 12d85a619ea5..5645823e9b15 100644
--- a/filebeat/reader/docker_json/docker_json_test.go
+++ b/filebeat/reader/docker_json/docker_json_test.go
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ func TestDockerJSON(t *testing.T) {
 		partial         bool
 		forceCRI        bool
 		criflags        bool
-		expectedError   bool
+		expectedError   error
 		expectedMessage reader.Message
 	}{
 		{
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ func TestDockerJSON(t *testing.T) {
 			name:          "Wrong JSON",
 			input:         [][]byte{[]byte(`this is not JSON`)},
 			stream:        "all",
-			expectedError: true,
+			expectedError: reader.ErrLineUnparsable,
 			expectedMessage: reader.Message{
 				Bytes: 16,
 			},
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ func TestDockerJSON(t *testing.T) {
 			name:          "Wrong CRI",
 			input:         [][]byte{[]byte(`2017-09-12T22:32:21.212861448Z stdout`)},
 			stream:        "all",
-			expectedError: true,
+			expectedError: reader.ErrLineUnparsable,
 			expectedMessage: reader.Message{
 				Bytes: 37,
 			},
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ func TestDockerJSON(t *testing.T) {
 			name:          "Wrong CRI",
 			input:         [][]byte{[]byte(`{this is not JSON nor CRI`)},
 			stream:        "all",
-			expectedError: true,
+			expectedError: reader.ErrLineUnparsable,
 			expectedMessage: reader.Message{
 				Bytes: 25,
 			},
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ func TestDockerJSON(t *testing.T) {
 			name:          "Missing time",
 			input:         [][]byte{[]byte(`{"log":"1:M 09 Nov 13:27:36.276 # User requested shutdown...\n","stream":"stdout"}`)},
 			stream:        "all",
-			expectedError: true,
+			expectedError: reader.ErrLineUnparsable,
 			expectedMessage: reader.Message{
 				Bytes: 82,
 			},
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ func TestDockerJSON(t *testing.T) {
 			input:         [][]byte{[]byte(`{"log":"1:M 09 Nov 13:27:36.276 # User requested shutdown...\n","stream":"stdout"}`)},
 			stream:        "all",
 			forceCRI:      true,
-			expectedError: true,
+			expectedError: reader.ErrLineUnparsable,
 			expectedMessage: reader.Message{
 				Bytes: 82,
 			},
@@ -279,12 +279,21 @@ func TestDockerJSON(t *testing.T) {
 				[]byte(`{"log":"shutdown...\n","stream`),
 			},
 			stream:        "stdout",
-			expectedError: true,
+			expectedError: reader.ErrLineUnparsable,
 			expectedMessage: reader.Message{
 				Bytes: 139,
 			},
 			partial: true,
 		},
+		{
+			name:          "Corrupted log message line",
+			input:         [][]byte{[]byte(`36.276 # User requested shutdown...\n","stream":"stdout","time":"2017-11-09T13:27:36.277747246Z"}`)},
+			stream:        "all",
+			expectedError: reader.ErrLineUnparsable,
+			expectedMessage: reader.Message{
+				Bytes: 97,
+			},
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, test := range tests {
@@ -293,8 +302,9 @@ func TestDockerJSON(t *testing.T) {
 			json := New(r, test.stream, test.partial, test.forceCRI, test.criflags)
 			message, err := json.Next()
 
-			if test.expectedError {
+			if test.expectedError != nil {
 				assert.Error(t, err)
+				assert.Equal(t, test.expectedError, err)
 			} else {
 				assert.NoError(t, err)
 			}
diff --git a/filebeat/reader/reader.go b/filebeat/reader/reader.go
index 653ceb8f1ea3..5aadcd611eb0 100644
--- a/filebeat/reader/reader.go
+++ b/filebeat/reader/reader.go
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@
 
 package reader
 
+import (
+	"errors"
+)
+
 // Reader is the interface that wraps the basic Next method for
 // getting a new message.
 // Next returns the message being read or and error. EOF is returned
@@ -24,3 +28,8 @@ package reader
 type Reader interface {
 	Next() (Message, error)
 }
+
+var (
+	//ErrLineUnparsable is error thrown when Next() element from input is corrupted and can not be parsed
+	ErrLineUnparsable = errors.New("line is unparsable")
+)