diff --git a/pulsar-broker/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/broker/service/ServerCnx.java b/pulsar-broker/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/broker/service/ServerCnx.java
index 4d21b2810cd3a..fbfb8108846b0 100644
--- a/pulsar-broker/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/broker/service/ServerCnx.java
+++ b/pulsar-broker/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/broker/service/ServerCnx.java
@@ -574,8 +574,12 @@ private CompletableFuture<Boolean> isTopicOperationAllowed(TopicName topicName,
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void handleLookup(CommandLookupTopic lookup) {
+    protected void handleLookup(CommandLookupTopic lookupParam) {
         checkArgument(state == State.Connected);
+
+        // Make a copy since the command is handled asynchronously
+        CommandLookupTopic lookup = new CommandLookupTopic().copyFrom(lookupParam);
+
         final long requestId = lookup.getRequestId();
         final boolean authoritative = lookup.isAuthoritative();
 
@@ -662,8 +666,13 @@ private void writeAndFlush(ByteBuf cmd) {
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void handlePartitionMetadataRequest(CommandPartitionedTopicMetadata partitionMetadata) {
+    protected void handlePartitionMetadataRequest(CommandPartitionedTopicMetadata partitionMetadataParam) {
         checkArgument(state == State.Connected);
+
+        // Make a copy since the command is handled asynchronously
+        CommandPartitionedTopicMetadata partitionMetadata =
+                new CommandPartitionedTopicMetadata().copyFrom(partitionMetadataParam);
+
         final long requestId = partitionMetadata.getRequestId();
         if (log.isDebugEnabled()) {
             log.debug("[{}] Received PartitionMetadataLookup from {} for {}", partitionMetadata.getTopic(),
@@ -3181,8 +3190,12 @@ protected void handleAddSubscriptionToTxn(CommandAddSubscriptionToTxn command) {
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected void handleCommandWatchTopicList(CommandWatchTopicList commandWatchTopicList) {
+    protected void handleCommandWatchTopicList(CommandWatchTopicList commandWatchTopicListParam) {
         checkArgument(state == State.Connected);
+
+        // make a copy since command is handled asynchronously
+        CommandWatchTopicList commandWatchTopicList = new CommandWatchTopicList().copyFrom(commandWatchTopicListParam);
+
         final long requestId = commandWatchTopicList.getRequestId();
         final long watcherId = commandWatchTopicList.getWatcherId();
         final NamespaceName namespaceName = NamespaceName.get(commandWatchTopicList.getNamespace());
diff --git a/pulsar-client/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/client/impl/ClientCnx.java b/pulsar-client/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/client/impl/ClientCnx.java
index 43be0072a8cde..9cccbecf3aa13 100644
--- a/pulsar-client/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/client/impl/ClientCnx.java
+++ b/pulsar-client/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/client/impl/ClientCnx.java
@@ -1242,7 +1242,7 @@ protected void handleCommandWatchTopicListSuccess(CommandWatchTopicListSuccess c
         CompletableFuture<CommandWatchTopicListSuccess> requestFuture =
                 (CompletableFuture<CommandWatchTopicListSuccess>) pendingRequests.remove(requestId);
         if (requestFuture != null) {
-            requestFuture.complete(commandWatchTopicListSuccess);
+            requestFuture.complete(new CommandWatchTopicListSuccess().copyFrom(commandWatchTopicListSuccess));
         } else {
             duplicatedResponseCounter.incrementAndGet();
             log.warn("{} Received unknown request id from server: {}",
diff --git a/pulsar-client/src/test/java/org/apache/pulsar/client/impl/ClientCnxTest.java b/pulsar-client/src/test/java/org/apache/pulsar/client/impl/ClientCnxTest.java
index e0721ffe90597..c0a75b09ccea1 100644
--- a/pulsar-client/src/test/java/org/apache/pulsar/client/impl/ClientCnxTest.java
+++ b/pulsar-client/src/test/java/org/apache/pulsar/client/impl/ClientCnxTest.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
  */
 package org.apache.pulsar.client.impl;
 
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.any;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
@@ -334,7 +335,9 @@ public void testCreateWatcher() {
                     .setRequestId(7)
                     .setWatcherId(5).setTopicsHash("f00");
             cnx.handleCommandWatchTopicListSuccess(success);
-            assertEquals(result.getNow(null), success);
+            assertThat(result.getNow(null))
+                    .usingRecursiveComparison()
+                    .comparingOnlyFields("requestId", "watcherId", "topicsHash");
         });
     }
 
diff --git a/pulsar-common/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/common/protocol/PulsarDecoder.java b/pulsar-common/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/common/protocol/PulsarDecoder.java
index b61664d9571da..33307a8cacc00 100644
--- a/pulsar-common/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/common/protocol/PulsarDecoder.java
+++ b/pulsar-common/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/common/protocol/PulsarDecoder.java
@@ -483,6 +483,11 @@ public void channelRead(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, Object msg) throws Exception
             }
         } finally {
             buffer.release();
+            // Clear the fields in cmd to release memory.
+            // The clear() call below also helps prevent misuse of holding references to command objects after
+            // handle* methods complete, as per the class javadoc requirement.
+            // While this doesn't completely prevent such misuse, it makes tests more likely to catch violations.
+            cmd.clear();
         }
     }