diff --git a/apis/datadoghq/common/envvar.go b/apis/datadoghq/common/envvar.go
index 3b7603276..1d4f86d38 100644
--- a/apis/datadoghq/common/envvar.go
+++ b/apis/datadoghq/common/envvar.go
@@ -105,6 +105,7 @@ const (
 	DDRuntimeSecurityConfigNetworkEnabled             = "DD_RUNTIME_SECURITY_CONFIG_NETWORK_ENABLED"
 	DDRuntimeSecurityConfigActivityDumpEnabled        = "DD_RUNTIME_SECURITY_CONFIG_ACTIVITY_DUMP_ENABLED"
 	DDRuntimeSecurityConfigRemoteConfigurationEnabled = "DD_RUNTIME_SECURITY_CONFIG_REMOTE_CONFIGURATION_ENABLED"
+	DDContainerImageEnabled                           = "DD_CONTAINER_IMAGE_ENABLED"
 	DDSBOMEnabled                                     = "DD_SBOM_ENABLED"
 	DDSBOMContainerImageEnabled                       = "DD_SBOM_CONTAINER_IMAGE_ENABLED"
 	DDSBOMContainerImageAnalyzers                     = "DD_SBOM_CONTAINER_IMAGE_ANALYZERS"
@@ -136,4 +137,7 @@ const (
 	KubernetesEnvVar = "KUBERNETES"
 
 	ClusterChecksConfigProvider = "clusterchecks"
+
+	EnvVarTrueValue  = "true"
+	EnvVarFalseValue = "false"
 )
diff --git a/controllers/datadogagent/component/agent/default.go b/controllers/datadogagent/component/agent/default.go
index 171cc8081..827c1bd85 100644
--- a/controllers/datadogagent/component/agent/default.go
+++ b/controllers/datadogagent/component/agent/default.go
@@ -268,7 +268,13 @@ func envVarsForCoreAgent(dda metav1.Object) []corev1.EnvVar {
 		},
 		{
 			Name:  apicommon.DDLeaderElection,
-			Value: "true",
+			Value: apicommon.EnvVarTrueValue,
+		},
+		{
+			// we want to default it in 7.49.0
+			// but in 7.50.0 it will be already defaulted in the agent process.
+			Name:  apicommon.DDContainerImageEnabled,
+			Value: apicommon.EnvVarTrueValue,
 		},
 	}