diff --git a/.changeset/four-schools-shake.md b/.changeset/four-schools-shake.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9fd81b5888
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/four-schools-shake.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@backstage/plugin-catalog-backend': patch
+---
+
+Pass in auth token to ancestry endpoint
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/createRouter.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/createRouter.ts
index 56121f4155..df289d579b 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/createRouter.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/createRouter.ts
@@ -158,7 +158,9 @@ export async function createRouter(
         async (req, res) => {
           const { kind, namespace, name } = req.params;
           const entityRef = stringifyEntityRef({ kind, namespace, name });
-          const response = await entitiesCatalog.entityAncestry(entityRef);
+          const response = await entitiesCatalog.entityAncestry(entityRef, {
+            authorizationToken: getBearerToken(req.header('authorization')),
+          });
           res.status(200).json(response);
         },
       )