diff --git a/kyaml/openapi/openapi.go b/kyaml/openapi/openapi.go
index 69762775e3b..923cd414a0f 100644
--- a/kyaml/openapi/openapi.go
+++ b/kyaml/openapi/openapi.go
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import (
 	"path/filepath"
 	"reflect"
 	"strings"
+	"sync"
 
 	openapi_v2 "github.com/google/gnostic/openapiv2"
 	"google.golang.org/protobuf/proto"
@@ -24,9 +25,6 @@ import (
 // globalSchema contains global state information about the openapi
 var globalSchema openapiData
 
-// kubernetesOpenAPIVersion specifies which builtin kubernetes schema to use
-var kubernetesOpenAPIVersion string
-
 // customSchemaFile stores the custom OpenApi schema if it is provided
 var customSchema []byte
 
@@ -59,6 +57,20 @@ const (
 	Proto      format = "proto"
 )
 
+// kubernetesOpenAPIVersionLock lock for kubernetesOpenAPIVersion.
+//
+// NOTE: This lock helps with preventing panics that might occur due to the data
+// race that concurrent access on this variable might cause but it doesn't
+// fully fix the issue described in https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kustomize/issues/4824.
+// For instance concurrently running goroutines where each of them calls SetSchema()
+// and/or GetSchemaVersion might end up received nil errors (success) whereas the
+// seconds one would overwrite the global variable that has been written by the
+// first one.
+var kubernetesOpenAPIVersionLock sync.RWMutex
+
+// kubernetesOpenAPIVersion specifies which builtin kubernetes schema to use.
+var kubernetesOpenAPIVersion string
+
 // precomputedIsNamespaceScoped precomputes IsNamespaceScoped for known types. This avoids Schema creation,
 // which is expensive
 // The test output from TestIsNamespaceScopedPrecompute shows the expected map in go syntax,and can be copy and pasted
@@ -279,8 +291,11 @@ func AddSchema(s []byte) error {
 // ResetOpenAPI resets the openapi data to empty
 func ResetOpenAPI() {
 	globalSchema = openapiData{}
-	kubernetesOpenAPIVersion = ""
 	customSchema = nil
+
+	kubernetesOpenAPIVersionLock.Lock()
+	defer kubernetesOpenAPIVersionLock.Unlock()
+	kubernetesOpenAPIVersion = ""
 }
 
 // AddDefinitions adds the definitions to the global schema.
@@ -551,6 +566,9 @@ const (
 
 // SetSchema sets the kubernetes OpenAPI schema version to use
 func SetSchema(openAPIField map[string]string, schema []byte, reset bool) error {
+	kubernetesOpenAPIVersionLock.Lock()
+	defer kubernetesOpenAPIVersionLock.Unlock()
+
 	// this should only be set once
 	schemaIsSet := (kubernetesOpenAPIVersion != "") || customSchema != nil
 	if schemaIsSet && !reset {
@@ -588,6 +606,9 @@ func SetSchema(openAPIField map[string]string, schema []byte, reset bool) error
 
 // GetSchemaVersion returns what kubernetes OpenAPI version is being used
 func GetSchemaVersion() string {
+	kubernetesOpenAPIVersionLock.RLock()
+	defer kubernetesOpenAPIVersionLock.RUnlock()
+
 	switch {
 	case kubernetesOpenAPIVersion == "" && customSchema == nil:
 		return kubernetesOpenAPIDefaultVersion
@@ -612,6 +633,8 @@ func initSchema() {
 			panic("invalid schema file")
 		}
 	} else {
+		kubernetesOpenAPIVersionLock.RLock()
+		defer kubernetesOpenAPIVersionLock.RUnlock()
 		if kubernetesOpenAPIVersion == "" {
 			parseBuiltinSchema(kubernetesOpenAPIDefaultVersion)
 		} else {