diff --git a/src/platform/plugins/shared/dashboard/public/dashboard_app/url/bwc/extract_panels_state.test.ts b/src/platform/plugins/shared/dashboard/public/dashboard_app/url/bwc/extract_panels_state.test.ts
index 11f6245744fc1..75aa5cdc929e9 100644
--- a/src/platform/plugins/shared/dashboard/public/dashboard_app/url/bwc/extract_panels_state.test.ts
+++ b/src/platform/plugins/shared/dashboard/public/dashboard_app/url/bwc/extract_panels_state.test.ts
@@ -103,6 +103,49 @@ describe('extractPanelsState', () => {
     });
   });
 
+  describe('8.19', () => {
+    test('should migrate panels in sections', () => {
+      const { panels } = extractPanelsState({
+        panels: [
+          {
+            title: 'Section 1',
+            gridData: {},
+            panels: [
+              {
+                embeddableConfig: {
+                  timeRange: {
+                    from: 'now-7d/d',
+                    to: 'now',
+                  },
+                },
+                gridData: {},
+                type: 'map',
+              },
+            ],
+          },
+        ],
+      });
+      expect(panels).toEqual([
+        {
+          title: 'Section 1',
+          grid: {},
+          panels: [
+            {
+              config: {
+                timeRange: {
+                  from: 'now-7d/d',
+                  to: 'now',
+                },
+              },
+              grid: {},
+              type: 'map',
+            },
+          ],
+        },
+      ]);
+    });
+  });
+
   describe('< 8.19 panels state', () => {
     test('should move id and title to config', () => {
       const { panels } = extractPanelsState({
diff --git a/src/platform/plugins/shared/dashboard/public/dashboard_app/url/bwc/extract_panels_state.ts b/src/platform/plugins/shared/dashboard/public/dashboard_app/url/bwc/extract_panels_state.ts
index 0d6b16ed7114d..75f65e0d9d0fe 100644
--- a/src/platform/plugins/shared/dashboard/public/dashboard_app/url/bwc/extract_panels_state.ts
+++ b/src/platform/plugins/shared/dashboard/public/dashboard_app/url/bwc/extract_panels_state.ts
@@ -56,6 +56,13 @@ export function extractPanelsState(state: { [key: string]: unknown }): {
   const standardizedPanels: DashboardState['panels'] = panels.map((legacyPanel) => {
     const panel = typeof legacyPanel === 'object' ? { ...legacyPanel } : {};
 
+    if (panel.panels) {
+      const { panels: sectionPanels, savedObjectReferences: sectionPanelReferences } =
+        extractPanelsState({ panels: panel.panels });
+      savedObjectReferences.push(...(sectionPanelReferences ?? []));
+      panel.panels = sectionPanels;
+    }
+
     // < 8.17 panels state stored panelConfig as embeddableConfig
     if (panel?.embeddableConfig) {
       panel.config = panel.embeddableConfig;