diff --git a/internal/fields/validate.go b/internal/fields/validate.go
index 0c99883e90..7a8ac84f29 100644
--- a/internal/fields/validate.go
+++ b/internal/fields/validate.go
@@ -302,22 +302,55 @@ func FindElementDefinition(searchedKey string, fieldDefinitions []FieldDefinitio
 	return findElementDefinitionForRoot("", searchedKey, fieldDefinitions)
 }
 
+// compareKeys checks if `searchedKey` matches with the given `key`. `key` can contain
+// wildcards (`*`), that match any sequence of characters in `searchedKey` different to dots.
 func compareKeys(key string, def FieldDefinition, searchedKey string) bool {
-	k := strings.ReplaceAll(key, ".", "\\.")
-	k = strings.ReplaceAll(k, "*", "[^.]+")
+	// Loop over every byte in `key` to find if there is a matching byte in `searchedKey`.
+	var j int
+	for _, k := range []byte(key) {
+		if j >= len(searchedKey) {
+			// End of searched key reached before maching all characters in the key.
+			return false
+		}
+		switch k {
+		case searchedKey[j]:
+			// Match, continue.
+			j++
+		case '*':
+			// Wildcard, match everything till next dot.
+			switch idx := strings.IndexByte(searchedKey[j:], '.'); idx {
+			default:
+				// Jump till next dot.
+				j += idx
+			case -1:
+				// No dots, wildcard matches with the rest of the searched key.
+				j = len(searchedKey)
+			case 0:
+				// Empty name on wildcard, this is not permitted (e.g. `example..foo`).
+				return false
+			}
+		default:
+			// No match.
+			return false
+		}
+	}
+	// If everything matched, searched key has been found.
+	if len(searchedKey) == j {
+		return true
+	}
 
 	// Workaround for potential geo_point, as "lon" and "lat" fields are not present in field definitions.
 	// Unfortunately we have to assume that imported field could be a geo_point (nasty workaround).
-	if def.Type == "geo_point" || def.External != "" {
-		k += "(\\.lon|\\.lat|)"
+	if len(searchedKey) > j {
+		if def.Type == "geo_point" || def.External != "" {
+			extraPart := searchedKey[j:]
+			if extraPart == ".lon" || extraPart == ".lat" {
+				return true
+			}
+		}
 	}
 
-	k = fmt.Sprintf("^%s$", k)
-	matched, err := regexp.MatchString(k, searchedKey)
-	if err != nil {
-		panic(errors.Wrapf(err, "regexp built using the given field/key (%s) is invalid", k))
-	}
-	return matched
+	return false
 }
 
 func (v *Validator) parseElementValue(key string, definition FieldDefinition, val interface{}) error {
diff --git a/internal/fields/validate_test.go b/internal/fields/validate_test.go
index 9b46936b55..1e142927c5 100644
--- a/internal/fields/validate_test.go
+++ b/internal/fields/validate_test.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"testing"
 
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )
 
@@ -224,6 +225,126 @@ func Test_parseElementValue(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestCompareKeys(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := []struct {
+		key         string
+		def         FieldDefinition
+		searchedKey string
+		expected    bool
+	}{
+		{
+			key:         "example.foo",
+			searchedKey: "example.foo",
+			expected:    true,
+		},
+		{
+			key:         "example.bar",
+			searchedKey: "example.foo",
+			expected:    false,
+		},
+		{
+			key:         "example.foo",
+			searchedKey: "example.foos",
+			expected:    false,
+		},
+		{
+			key:         "example.foo",
+			searchedKey: "example.fo",
+			expected:    false,
+		},
+		{
+			key:         "example.*",
+			searchedKey: "example.foo",
+			expected:    true,
+		},
+		{
+			key:         "example.foo",
+			searchedKey: "example.*",
+			expected:    false,
+		},
+		{
+			key:         "example.*",
+			searchedKey: "example.",
+			expected:    false,
+		},
+		{
+			key:         "example.*.foo",
+			searchedKey: "example.group.foo",
+			expected:    true,
+		},
+		{
+			key:         "example.*.*",
+			searchedKey: "example.group.foo",
+			expected:    true,
+		},
+		{
+			key:         "example.*.*",
+			searchedKey: "example..foo",
+			expected:    false,
+		},
+		{
+			key:         "example.*",
+			searchedKey: "example.group.foo",
+			expected:    false,
+		},
+		{
+			key:         "example.geo",
+			def:         FieldDefinition{Type: "geo_point"},
+			searchedKey: "example.geo.lat",
+			expected:    true,
+		},
+		{
+			key:         "example.geo",
+			def:         FieldDefinition{Type: "geo_point"},
+			searchedKey: "example.geo.lon",
+			expected:    true,
+		},
+		{
+			key:         "example.geo",
+			def:         FieldDefinition{Type: "geo_point"},
+			searchedKey: "example.geo.foo",
+			expected:    false,
+		},
+		{
+			key:         "example.ecs.geo",
+			def:         FieldDefinition{External: "ecs"},
+			searchedKey: "example.ecs.geo.lat",
+			expected:    true,
+		},
+		{
+			key:         "example.ecs.geo",
+			def:         FieldDefinition{External: "ecs"},
+			searchedKey: "example.ecs.geo.lon",
+			expected:    true,
+		},
+		{
+			key:         "example.*",
+			def:         FieldDefinition{Type: "geo_point"},
+			searchedKey: "example.geo.lon",
+			expected:    true,
+		},
+		{
+			key:         "example.*",
+			def:         FieldDefinition{External: "ecs"},
+			searchedKey: "example.geo.lat",
+			expected:    true,
+		},
+		{
+			key:         "example.*",
+			def:         FieldDefinition{Type: "geo_point"},
+			searchedKey: "example.geo.foo",
+			expected:    false,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, c := range cases {
+		t.Run(c.key+" matches "+c.searchedKey, func(t *testing.T) {
+			found := compareKeys(c.key, c.def, c.searchedKey)
+			assert.Equal(t, c.expected, found)
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 func readTestResults(t *testing.T, path string) (f results) {
 	c, err := os.ReadFile(path)
 	require.NoError(t, err)