diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 30e996e31..b4e2ee18f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,18 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## 1.6.2
+
+**Release date:** 2026-07-07
+
+This patch release disables Flux variable substitution on the HelmRelease CRD.
+The CRD is now annotated with `kustomize.toolkit.fluxcd.io/substitute: disabled`
+so that Kustomizations with post-build substitution enabled no longer corrupt
+the CRD schema when it contains `${...}` sequences.
+
+Fixes:
+- Disable variable substitution in CRDs
+  [#1538](https://github.com/fluxcd/helm-controller/pull/1538)
+
 ## 1.6.1
 
 **Release date:** 2026-06-30
diff --git a/config/manager/kustomization.yaml b/config/manager/kustomization.yaml
index 57b23cadd..acc000060 100644
--- a/config/manager/kustomization.yaml
+++ b/config/manager/kustomization.yaml
@@ -5,4 +5,4 @@ resources:
 images:
   - name: fluxcd/helm-controller
     newName: fluxcd/helm-controller
-    newTag: v1.6.1
+    newTag: v1.6.2
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index f4ff9a5f2..9f6f6bab9 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ replace (
 require (
 	github.com/Masterminds/semver/v3 v3.5.0
 	github.com/fluxcd/cli-utils v1.2.2
-	github.com/fluxcd/helm-controller/api v1.6.1
+	github.com/fluxcd/helm-controller/api v1.6.2
 	github.com/fluxcd/pkg/apis/acl v0.10.0
 	github.com/fluxcd/pkg/apis/event v0.27.1
 	github.com/fluxcd/pkg/apis/kustomize v1.19.1