diff --git a/config/crd/bases/config.nri_balloonspolicies.yaml b/config/crd/bases/config.nri_balloonspolicies.yaml
index 84cf113a1..fd4d02ad8 100644
--- a/config/crd/bases/config.nri_balloonspolicies.yaml
+++ b/config/crd/bases/config.nri_balloonspolicies.yaml
@@ -201,6 +201,7 @@ spec:
                       items:
                         type: string
                       type: array
+                      x-kubernetes-list-type: set
                     preferCloseToDevices:
                       description: |-
                         PreferCloseToDevices: prefer creating new balloons of this
@@ -208,6 +209,7 @@ spec:
                       items:
                         type: string
                       type: array
+                      x-kubernetes-list-type: set
                     preferCoreType:
                       description: |-
                         preferCoreType: prefer performance or efficient (P/E) CPU cores on
diff --git a/config/crd/bases/config.nri_topologyawarepolicies.yaml b/config/crd/bases/config.nri_topologyawarepolicies.yaml
index df4944647..baf85875f 100644
--- a/config/crd/bases/config.nri_topologyawarepolicies.yaml
+++ b/config/crd/bases/config.nri_topologyawarepolicies.yaml
@@ -217,6 +217,7 @@ spec:
                 items:
                   type: string
                 type: array
+                x-kubernetes-list-type: set
               reservedResources:
                 additionalProperties:
                   type: string
diff --git a/deployment/helm/balloons/crds/config.nri_balloonspolicies.yaml b/deployment/helm/balloons/crds/config.nri_balloonspolicies.yaml
index 84cf113a1..fd4d02ad8 100644
--- a/deployment/helm/balloons/crds/config.nri_balloonspolicies.yaml
+++ b/deployment/helm/balloons/crds/config.nri_balloonspolicies.yaml
@@ -201,6 +201,7 @@ spec:
                       items:
                         type: string
                       type: array
+                      x-kubernetes-list-type: set
                     preferCloseToDevices:
                       description: |-
                         PreferCloseToDevices: prefer creating new balloons of this
@@ -208,6 +209,7 @@ spec:
                       items:
                         type: string
                       type: array
+                      x-kubernetes-list-type: set
                     preferCoreType:
                       description: |-
                         preferCoreType: prefer performance or efficient (P/E) CPU cores on
diff --git a/deployment/helm/topology-aware/crds/config.nri_topologyawarepolicies.yaml b/deployment/helm/topology-aware/crds/config.nri_topologyawarepolicies.yaml
index df4944647..baf85875f 100644
--- a/deployment/helm/topology-aware/crds/config.nri_topologyawarepolicies.yaml
+++ b/deployment/helm/topology-aware/crds/config.nri_topologyawarepolicies.yaml
@@ -217,6 +217,7 @@ spec:
                 items:
                   type: string
                 type: array
+                x-kubernetes-list-type: set
               reservedResources:
                 additionalProperties:
                   type: string
diff --git a/pkg/apis/config/v1alpha1/resmgr/policy/balloons/config.go b/pkg/apis/config/v1alpha1/resmgr/policy/balloons/config.go
index 88251d09d..357a52f26 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/config/v1alpha1/resmgr/policy/balloons/config.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/config/v1alpha1/resmgr/policy/balloons/config.go
@@ -129,6 +129,7 @@ type BalloonDef struct {
 	// Namespaces control which namespaces are assigned into
 	// balloon instances from this definition. This is used by
 	// namespace assign methods.
+	// +listType=set
 	Namespaces []string `json:"namespaces,omitempty"`
 	// GroupBy groups containers into same balloon instances if
 	// their GroupBy expressions evaluate to the same group.
@@ -220,11 +221,13 @@ type BalloonDef struct {
 	ShareIdleCpusInSame CPUTopologyLevel `json:"shareIdleCPUsInSame,omitempty"`
 	// PreferCloseToDevices: prefer creating new balloons of this
 	// type close to listed devices.
+	// +listType=set
 	PreferCloseToDevices []string `json:"preferCloseToDevices,omitempty"`
 	// PreferFarFromDevices: prefer creating new balloons of this
 	// type far from listed devices.
 	// TODO: PreferFarFromDevices is considered too untested for usage. Hence,
 	// for the time being we prevent its usage through CRDs.
+	// +listType=set
 	PreferFarFromDevices []string `json:"-"`
 	// preferIsolCpus: prefer kernel isolated cpus
 	// +kubebuilder:default=false
diff --git a/pkg/apis/config/v1alpha1/resmgr/policy/topologyaware/config.go b/pkg/apis/config/v1alpha1/resmgr/policy/topologyaware/config.go
index d1e537215..d5cfe6591 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/config/v1alpha1/resmgr/policy/topologyaware/config.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/config/v1alpha1/resmgr/policy/topologyaware/config.go
@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@ type Config struct {
 	// ReservedPoolNamespaces lists extra namespaces which are treated like
 	// 'kube-system' (resources allocate from the reserved pool).
 	// +optional
+	// +listType=set
 	ReservedPoolNamespaces []string `json:"reservedPoolNamespaces,omitempty"`
 	// AvailableResources defines the bounding set for the policy to allocate
 	// resources from.