diff --git a/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFetcher.test.ts b/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFetcher.test.ts
index 0d9f067707..966fda7ce5 100644
--- a/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFetcher.test.ts
+++ b/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFetcher.test.ts
@@ -812,6 +812,129 @@ describe('KubernetesFetcher', () => {
         const [[{ agent }]] = httpsRequest.mock.calls;
         expect(agent.options.rejectUnauthorized).toBe(false);
       });
+
+      it('should use a x509 client cert authentication strategy to consume kubeapi when backstage-kubernetes-auth field is not provided and the authStrategy enables x509 client cert authentication - fetchObjectsForService', async () => {
+        worker.use(
+          rest.get('https://localhost:9999/api/v1/pods', (req, res, ctx) =>
+            res(
+              checkToken(req, ctx, 'token'),
+              withLabels(req, ctx, {
+                items: [{ metadata: { name: 'pod-name' } }],
+              }),
+            ),
+          ),
+        );
+
+        const myCert = 'MOCKCert';
+        const myKey = 'MOCKKey';
+
+        const result = sut.fetchObjectsForService({
+          serviceId: 'some-service',
+          clusterDetails: {
+            name: 'cluster1',
+            url: 'https://localhost:9999',
+            authMetadata: {},
+            caData: 'MOCKCA',
+          },
+          credential: {
+            type: 'x509 client certificate',
+            cert: myCert,
+            key: myKey,
+          },
+          objectTypesToFetch: new Set<ObjectToFetch>([
+            {
+              group: '',
+              apiVersion: 'v1',
+              plural: 'pods',
+              objectType: 'pods',
+            },
+          ]),
+          labelSelector: '',
+          customResources: [],
+        });
+
+        await expect(result).rejects.toThrow(/PEM/);
+
+        expect(httpsRequest).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+        const [[{ agent }]] = httpsRequest.mock.calls;
+        expect(agent.options.ca.toString('base64')).toMatch('MOCKCA');
+        expect(agent.options.cert).toEqual(myCert);
+        expect(agent.options.key).toEqual(myKey);
+      });
+
+      it('should use a x509 client cert authentication strategy to consume kubeapi when backstage-kubernetes-auth field is not provided and the authStrategy enables x509 client cert authentication - fetchPodMetricsByNamespaces', async () => {
+        worker.use(
+          rest.get(
+            'https://localhost:9999/api/v1/namespaces/:namespace/pods',
+            (req, res, ctx) =>
+              res(
+                withLabels(req, ctx, {
+                  items: [
+                    {
+                      metadata: { name: 'pod-name' },
+                      spec: {
+                        containers: [
+                          {
+                            name: 'container-name',
+                            resources: {
+                              requests: { cpu: '500m', memory: '512M' },
+                              limits: { cpu: '1000m', memory: '1G' },
+                            },
+                          },
+                        ],
+                      },
+                    },
+                  ],
+                }),
+              ),
+          ),
+          rest.get(
+            'https://localhost:9999/apis/metrics.k8s.io/v1beta1/namespaces/:namespace/pods',
+            (req, res, ctx) =>
+              res(
+                withLabels(req, ctx, {
+                  items: [
+                    {
+                      metadata: { name: 'pod-name' },
+                      containers: [
+                        {
+                          name: 'container-name',
+                          usage: { cpu: '0', memory: '0' },
+                        },
+                      ],
+                    },
+                  ],
+                }),
+              ),
+          ),
+        );
+
+        const myCert = 'MOCKCert';
+        const myKey = 'MOCKKey';
+
+        const result = sut.fetchPodMetricsByNamespaces(
+          {
+            name: 'cluster1',
+            url: 'https://localhost:9999',
+            authMetadata: {},
+            caData: 'MOCKCA',
+          },
+          {
+            type: 'x509 client certificate',
+            cert: myCert,
+            key: myKey,
+          },
+          new Set(['ns-a']),
+        );
+
+        await expect(result).rejects.toThrow(/PEM/);
+
+        expect(httpsRequest).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+        const [[{ agent }]] = httpsRequest.mock.calls;
+        expect(agent.options.ca.toString('base64')).toMatch('MOCKCA');
+        expect(agent.options.cert).toEqual(myCert);
+        expect(agent.options.key).toEqual(myKey);
+      });
     });
 
     it('should use namespace if provided', async () => {
diff --git a/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFetcher.ts b/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFetcher.ts
index 4daf3e80f6..cf4e3f9440 100644
--- a/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFetcher.ts
+++ b/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFetcher.ts
@@ -216,16 +216,11 @@ export class KubernetesClientBasedFetcher implements KubernetesFetcher {
     let requestInit: RequestInit;
     const authProvider =
       clusterDetails.authMetadata[ANNOTATION_KUBERNETES_AUTH_PROVIDER];
-    if (
-      authProvider === 'serviceAccount' &&
-      !clusterDetails.authMetadata.serviceAccountToken &&
-      fs.pathExistsSync(Config.SERVICEACCOUNT_CA_PATH)
-    ) {
+
+    if (this.isServiceAccountAuthentication(authProvider, clusterDetails)) {
       [url, requestInit] = this.fetchArgsInCluster(credential);
     } else if (
-      credential.type === 'bearer token' ||
-      credential.type === 'x509 client certificate' ||
-      authProvider === 'localKubectlProxy'
+      this.isTokenOrClientCertificateAuthentication(authProvider, credential)
     ) {
       [url, requestInit] = this.fetchArgs(clusterDetails, credential);
     } else {
@@ -249,6 +244,28 @@ export class KubernetesClientBasedFetcher implements KubernetesFetcher {
     return fetch(url, requestInit);
   }
 
+  private isServiceAccountAuthentication(
+    authProvider: string,
+    clusterDetails: ClusterDetails,
+  ) {
+    return (
+      authProvider === 'serviceAccount' &&
+      !clusterDetails.authMetadata.serviceAccountToken &&
+      fs.pathExistsSync(Config.SERVICEACCOUNT_CA_PATH)
+    );
+  }
+
+  private isTokenOrClientCertificateAuthentication(
+    authProvider: string,
+    credential: KubernetesCredential,
+  ) {
+    return (
+      credential.type === 'bearer token' ||
+      credential.type === 'x509 client certificate' ||
+      authProvider === 'localKubectlProxy'
+    );
+  }
+
   private fetchArgs(
     clusterDetails: ClusterDetails,
     credential: KubernetesCredential,
diff --git a/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesProxy.test.ts b/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesProxy.test.ts
index 9bee21867d..94a8b2918e 100644
--- a/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesProxy.test.ts
+++ b/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesProxy.test.ts
@@ -820,6 +820,67 @@ describe('KubernetesProxy', () => {
         expect(ca).toMatch('MOCKCA');
       });
     });
+
+    it('should use a x509 client cert authentication strategy to consume kubeapi when backstage-kubernetes-auth field is not provided and the authStrategy enables x509 client cert authentication', async () => {
+      worker.use(
+        rest.get(
+          'https://localhost:9999/api/v1/namespaces',
+          (req: any, res: any, ctx: any) => {
+            if (req.headers.get('Authorization')) {
+              return res(ctx.status(403));
+            }
+
+            return res(
+              ctx.status(200),
+              ctx.json({
+                kind: 'NamespaceList',
+                apiVersion: 'v1',
+                items: [],
+              }),
+            );
+          },
+        ),
+      );
+
+      clusterSupplier.getClusters.mockResolvedValue([
+        {
+          name: 'cluster1',
+          url: 'https://localhost:9999',
+          authMetadata: {},
+        },
+      ]);
+
+      const myCert = 'MOCKCert';
+      const myKey = 'MOCKKey';
+
+      authStrategy.getCredential.mockResolvedValue({
+        type: 'x509 client certificate',
+        cert: myCert,
+        key: myKey,
+      });
+
+      const requestPromise = setupProxyPromise({
+        proxyPath: '/mountpath',
+        requestPath: '/api/v1/namespaces',
+
+        headers: { [HEADER_KUBERNETES_CLUSTER]: 'cluster1' },
+      });
+
+      const response = await requestPromise;
+
+      expect(authStrategy.getCredential).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      expect(authStrategy.getCredential).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+        expect.anything(),
+        {},
+      );
+
+      const [[{ key, cert }]] = httpsRequest.mock.calls;
+      expect(cert).toEqual(myCert);
+      expect(key).toEqual(myKey);
+
+      // 500 Since the key and cert are fake
+      expect(response.status).toEqual(500);
+    });
   });
 
   describe('WebSocket', () => {