diff --git a/changelog/16487.txt b/changelog/16487.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..cbf2a2a586
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/16487.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+```release-note:improvement
+identity: Prevent possibility of data races on entity creation.
+```
diff --git a/vault/identity_store.go b/vault/identity_store.go
index 8114d1e928..506553f752 100644
--- a/vault/identity_store.go
+++ b/vault/identity_store.go
@@ -1094,7 +1094,7 @@ func (i *IdentityStore) CreateEntity(ctx context.Context) (*identity.Entity, err
 			nsLabel,
 		})
 
-	return entity, nil
+	return entity.Clone()
 }
 
 // CreateOrFetchEntity creates a new entity. This is used by core to