diff --git a/.changeset/tame-numbers-smile.md b/.changeset/tame-numbers-smile.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1d675f8c9c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/tame-numbers-smile.md
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+'@backstage/plugin-kubernetes-backend': patch
+'@backstage/plugin-kubernetes-node': patch
+---
+
+Enabling authentication to kubernetes clusters with mTLS x509 client certs
diff --git a/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFetcher.test.ts b/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFetcher.test.ts
index e388589e74..0d9f067707 100644
--- a/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFetcher.test.ts
+++ b/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFetcher.test.ts
@@ -895,7 +895,7 @@ describe('KubernetesFetcher', () => {
           customResources: [],
         });
         return expect(result).rejects.toThrow(
-          "no bearer token for cluster 'unauthenticated-cluster' and not running in Kubernetes",
+          "no bearer token or client cert for cluster 'unauthenticated-cluster' and not running in Kubernetes",
         );
       });
     });
diff --git a/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFetcher.ts b/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFetcher.ts
index 99501c48c6..4daf3e80f6 100644
--- a/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFetcher.ts
+++ b/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesFetcher.ts
@@ -224,13 +224,14 @@ export class KubernetesClientBasedFetcher implements KubernetesFetcher {
       [url, requestInit] = this.fetchArgsInCluster(credential);
     } else if (
       credential.type === 'bearer token' ||
+      credential.type === 'x509 client certificate' ||
       authProvider === 'localKubectlProxy'
     ) {
       [url, requestInit] = this.fetchArgs(clusterDetails, credential);
     } else {
       return Promise.reject(
         new Error(
-          `no bearer token for cluster '${clusterDetails.name}' and not running in Kubernetes`,
+          `no bearer token or client cert for cluster '${clusterDetails.name}' and not running in Kubernetes`,
         ),
       );
     }
@@ -272,6 +273,10 @@ export class KubernetesClientBasedFetcher implements KubernetesFetcher {
             clusterDetails.caData,
           ) ?? undefined,
         rejectUnauthorized: !clusterDetails.skipTLSVerify,
+        ...(credential.type === 'x509 client certificate' && {
+          cert: credential.cert,
+          key: credential.key,
+        }),
       });
     }
     return [url, requestInit];
diff --git a/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesProxy.ts b/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesProxy.ts
index 8a07267cde..209d01b703 100644
--- a/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesProxy.ts
+++ b/plugins/kubernetes-backend/src/service/KubernetesProxy.ts
@@ -113,24 +113,6 @@ export class KubernetesProxy {
         return;
       }
 
-      const authHeader = req.header(HEADER_KUBERNETES_AUTH);
-      if (authHeader) {
-        req.headers.authorization = authHeader;
-      } else {
-        // Map Backstage-Kubernetes-Authorization-X-X headers to a KubernetesRequestAuth object
-        const authObj = KubernetesProxy.authHeadersToKubernetesRequestAuth(
-          req.headers,
-        );
-
-        const credential = await this.getClusterForRequest(req).then(cd => {
-          return this.authStrategy.getCredential(cd, authObj);
-        });
-
-        if (credential.type === 'bearer token') {
-          req.headers.authorization = `Bearer ${credential.token}`;
-        }
-      }
-
       const middleware = await this.getMiddleware(req);
 
       // If req is an upgrade handshake, use middleware upgrade instead of http request handler https://github.com/chimurai/http-proxy-middleware#external-websocket-upgrade
@@ -173,7 +155,7 @@ export class KubernetesProxy {
           const cluster = await this.getClusterForRequest(req);
           const url = new URL(cluster.url);
 
-          return {
+          const target: any = {
             protocol: url.protocol,
             host: url.hostname,
             port: url.port,
@@ -182,6 +164,29 @@ export class KubernetesProxy {
               cluster.caData,
             )?.toString(),
           };
+
+          const authHeader = req.header(HEADER_KUBERNETES_AUTH);
+          if (authHeader) {
+            req.headers.authorization = authHeader;
+          } else {
+            // Map Backstage-Kubernetes-Authorization-X-X headers to a KubernetesRequestAuth object
+            const authObj = KubernetesProxy.authHeadersToKubernetesRequestAuth(
+              req.headers,
+            );
+
+            const credential = await this.getClusterForRequest(req).then(cd => {
+              return this.authStrategy.getCredential(cd, authObj);
+            });
+
+            if (credential.type === 'bearer token') {
+              req.headers.authorization = `Bearer ${credential.token}`;
+            } else if (credential.type === 'x509 client certificate') {
+              target.key = credential.key;
+              target.cert = credential.cert;
+            }
+          }
+
+          return target;
         },
         onError: (error, req, res) => {
           const wrappedError = new ForwardedError(
diff --git a/plugins/kubernetes-node/api-report.md b/plugins/kubernetes-node/api-report.md
index 2272035742..4c858ec969 100644
--- a/plugins/kubernetes-node/api-report.md
+++ b/plugins/kubernetes-node/api-report.md
@@ -100,6 +100,11 @@ export type KubernetesCredential =
       type: 'bearer token';
       token: string;
     }
+  | {
+      type: 'x509 client certificate';
+      cert: string;
+      key: string;
+    }
   | {
       type: 'anonymous';
     };
diff --git a/plugins/kubernetes-node/src/types/types.ts b/plugins/kubernetes-node/src/types/types.ts
index a0f48d0c26..036b54ed98 100644
--- a/plugins/kubernetes-node/src/types/types.ts
+++ b/plugins/kubernetes-node/src/types/types.ts
@@ -139,6 +139,7 @@ export interface KubernetesClustersSupplier {
  */
 export type KubernetesCredential =
   | { type: 'bearer token'; token: string }
+  | { type: 'x509 client certificate'; cert: string; key: string }
   | { type: 'anonymous' };
 
 /**