diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index d864b2e4e6..24f8f5d5fa 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 
 	<groupId>org.springframework.data</groupId>
 	<artifactId>spring-data-mongodb-parent</artifactId>
-	<version>4.1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+	<version>4.1.x-GH-3917-SNAPSHOT</version>
 	<packaging>pom</packaging>
 
 	<name>Spring Data MongoDB</name>
diff --git a/spring-data-mongodb-benchmarks/pom.xml b/spring-data-mongodb-benchmarks/pom.xml
index 1b2a1390e6..284c9764d8 100644
--- a/spring-data-mongodb-benchmarks/pom.xml
+++ b/spring-data-mongodb-benchmarks/pom.xml
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 	<parent>
 		<groupId>org.springframework.data</groupId>
 		<artifactId>spring-data-mongodb-parent</artifactId>
-		<version>4.1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+		<version>4.1.x-GH-3917-SNAPSHOT</version>
 		<relativePath>../pom.xml</relativePath>
 	</parent>
 
diff --git a/spring-data-mongodb-distribution/pom.xml b/spring-data-mongodb-distribution/pom.xml
index 8db8d798fb..33d31ac969 100644
--- a/spring-data-mongodb-distribution/pom.xml
+++ b/spring-data-mongodb-distribution/pom.xml
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 	<parent>
 		<groupId>org.springframework.data</groupId>
 		<artifactId>spring-data-mongodb-parent</artifactId>
-		<version>4.1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+		<version>4.1.x-GH-3917-SNAPSHOT</version>
 		<relativePath>../pom.xml</relativePath>
 	</parent>
 
diff --git a/spring-data-mongodb/pom.xml b/spring-data-mongodb/pom.xml
index 9a57f7eb52..2f98fd6760 100644
--- a/spring-data-mongodb/pom.xml
+++ b/spring-data-mongodb/pom.xml
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 	<parent>
 		<groupId>org.springframework.data</groupId>
 		<artifactId>spring-data-mongodb-parent</artifactId>
-		<version>4.1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+		<version>4.1.x-GH-3917-SNAPSHOT</version>
 		<relativePath>../pom.xml</relativePath>
 	</parent>
 
diff --git a/spring-data-mongodb/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/aggregation/ExposedFieldsAggregationOperationContext.java b/spring-data-mongodb/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/aggregation/ExposedFieldsAggregationOperationContext.java
index 6572eabcf7..1a88175d76 100644
--- a/spring-data-mongodb/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/aggregation/ExposedFieldsAggregationOperationContext.java
+++ b/spring-data-mongodb/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/aggregation/ExposedFieldsAggregationOperationContext.java
@@ -96,6 +96,25 @@ private FieldReference getReference(@Nullable Field field, String name) {
 			return exposedField;
 		}
 
+		if(rootContext instanceof RelaxedTypeBasedAggregationOperationContext) {
+			return new DirectFieldReference(new ExposedField(new Field() {
+				@Override
+				public String getName() {
+					return name;
+				}
+
+				@Override
+				public String getTarget() {
+					return field != null ? field.getTarget() : name;
+				}
+
+				@Override
+				public boolean isAliased() {
+					return true;
+				}
+			}, true));
+		}
+
 		throw new IllegalArgumentException(String.format("Invalid reference '%s'", name));
 	}
 
diff --git a/spring-data-mongodb/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/aggregation/AggregationUnitTests.java b/spring-data-mongodb/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/aggregation/AggregationUnitTests.java
index 9670bcf039..64bd9a1412 100755
--- a/spring-data-mongodb/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/aggregation/AggregationUnitTests.java
+++ b/spring-data-mongodb/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/aggregation/AggregationUnitTests.java
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
 import org.bson.Document;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 import org.springframework.data.annotation.Id;
+import org.springframework.data.domain.Sort;
 import org.springframework.data.domain.Sort.Direction;
 import org.springframework.data.mongodb.core.aggregation.ConditionalOperators.Cond;
 import org.springframework.data.mongodb.core.aggregation.ProjectionOperationUnitTests.BookWithFieldAnnotation;
@@ -629,6 +630,28 @@ void createsBasicAggregationOperationFromBson() {
 		Document target = newAggregation(stage).toDocument("col-1", DEFAULT_CONTEXT);
 		assertThat(extractPipelineElement(target, 0, "$project")).containsKey("name");
 	}
+	
+	@Test // GH-3917
+	void inheritedFieldsExposingContextShouldNotFailOnUnknownFieldReferenceForRelaxedRootContext() {
+
+		List<AggregationOperation> aggregationOperations = new ArrayList<>();
+
+		GroupOperation groupOperation = Aggregation.group("_id", "label_name");
+		aggregationOperations.add(groupOperation);
+
+		ProjectionOperation projectionOperation = Aggregation.project("label_name").andExclude("_id");
+		aggregationOperations.add(projectionOperation);
+
+		Sort sort = Sort.by(Sort.Direction.DESC, "serial_number");
+		SortOperation sortOperation = new SortOperation(sort).and(Sort.Direction.DESC, "label_name");
+		aggregationOperations.add(sortOperation);
+
+		MongoMappingContext mappingContext = new MongoMappingContext();
+		QueryMapper queryMapper = new QueryMapper(new MappingMongoConverter(NoOpDbRefResolver.INSTANCE, mappingContext));
+		
+		List<Document> documents = newAggregation(City.class, aggregationOperations).toPipeline(new RelaxedTypeBasedAggregationOperationContext(City.class, mappingContext, queryMapper));
+		assertThat(documents.get(2)).isEqualTo("{ $sort : { 'serial_number' : -1, 'label_name' : -1 } }");
+	}
 
 	private Document extractPipelineElement(Document agg, int index, String operation) {