diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rst b/CHANGELOG.rst
index 3ae22ab..8a33b6d 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@
 History
 =======
 
+0.18.1 (2024-02-21)
+-------------------
+- Fixed blocks data getting updated due to pass by reference
+
 0.18.0 (2024-02-09)
 -------------------
 - html.escape all the attributes
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index e682e80..9dab429 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 [bumpversion]
-current_version = 0.18.0
+current_version = 0.18.1
 commit = True
 tag = True
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 1b9efb3..8fd2176 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 setup(
     name="tiptapy",
-    version="0.18.0",  # TODO: why bumpversion works only for single quotes?
+    version="0.18.1",  # TODO: why bumpversion works only for single quotes?
     url="https://github.com/scrolltech/tiptapy",
     description="Library that generates HTML output from JSON export of tiptap editor",
     long_description=open("README.md").read(),
diff --git a/tests/data/html/xss.html b/tests/data/html/xss.html
index cbbad2a..1cb7c0e 100644
--- a/tests/data/html/xss.html
+++ b/tests/data/html/xss.html
@@ -1 +1 @@
-<div data-foo="&quot;/&gt;&lt;script&gt;alert(&#x27;pwned!&#x27;);&lt;/script&gt;" data-&gt;&lt;script&gt;alert(&#x27;pwned!&#x27;);&lt;/script&gt;="foo"><p><a foo="&quot;&gt;alert(&#x27;pwned!&#x27;);&lt;/script&gt;" &gt;&lt;script&gt;alert(&#x27;pwned!&#x27;);&lt;/script&gt;="foo" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">&lt;script&gt;alert(&#x27;pwned!&#x27;);&lt;/script&gt;</a></p></div>
\ No newline at end of file
+<div data-foo="&quot;/&gt;&lt;script&gt;alert(&#x27;pwned!&#x27;);&lt;/script&gt;" data-&gt;&lt;script&gt;alert(&#x27;pwned!&#x27;);&lt;/script&gt;="foo"><p><a &gt;&lt;script&gt;alert(&#x27;pwned!&#x27;);&lt;/script&gt;="foo" foo="&quot;&gt;alert(&#x27;pwned!&#x27;);&lt;/script&gt;" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">&lt;script&gt;alert(&#x27;pwned!&#x27;);&lt;/script&gt;</a></p></div>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/test_transform.py b/tests/test_transform.py
index be02a58..1decf32 100644
--- a/tests/test_transform.py
+++ b/tests/test_transform.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import os
+from copy import deepcopy
 
 import pytest
 
@@ -87,7 +88,11 @@ def test_html_tag(tag):
     Test expected json input with the expected html.
     """
     tag_data = json_data[tag]
-    expected_html = html_data[tag]
+    tag_data_copy = deepcopy(tag_data)
+    expected_html = html_data[tag].strip()
 
     renderer = tiptapy.BaseDoc(config)
-    assert renderer.render(tag_data) == expected_html.strip()
+    rendered_html = renderer.render(tag_data).strip()
+
+    assert rendered_html == expected_html
+    assert tag_data == tag_data_copy  # Test pass by value
diff --git a/tiptapy/__init__.py b/tiptapy/__init__.py
index c3face7..5c75434 100644
--- a/tiptapy/__init__.py
+++ b/tiptapy/__init__.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
     make_img_src,
 )
 
-__version__ = "0.18.0"
+__version__ = "0.18.1"
 
 renderers: Dict = {}
 
@@ -50,18 +50,12 @@ def escape_values_recursive(node):
     skip_key = "html"
 
     if isinstance(node, dict):
-        items = list(node.items())
-        for k, v in items:
-            esc_k = escape(k)
-            if k != esc_k:
-                del node[k]
-            if esc_k == skip_key:
-                node[esc_k] = v
-            else:
-                node[esc_k] = escape_values_recursive(v)
+        return {
+            escape(k): v if k == skip_key else escape_values_recursive(v)
+            for k, v in node.items()
+        }
     elif isinstance(node, list):
-        for i, v in enumerate(node):
-            node[i] = escape_values_recursive(v)
+        return [escape_values_recursive(x) for x in node]
     elif isinstance(node, str):
         return escape(node)
     return node