Azure AD integration failures in AKS occur when Microsoft Entra ID authentication cannot authorize users or service principals to access the cluster. This results in "Unauthorized" errors when running kubectl commands. Common causes include expired credentials, RBAC configuration mismatches, and managed identity setup issues.
This error indicates that your AKS cluster's integration with Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) has failed. Entra ID provides authentication and authorization for cluster access, allowing users and service accounts to authenticate via cloud identity. The failure prevents users from running kubectl commands, accessing the API server, or managing the cluster.
Clear your current Azure session and re-authenticate:
az login
az account set --subscription <SUBSCRIPTION_ID>
az aks get-credentials --resource-group <RG_NAME> --name <CLUSTER_NAME> --overwrite-existingThis refreshes your kubeconfig and Entra tokens, resolving token expiration issues.
For AKS-managed Entra integration, kubelogin is required for token refresh:
kubelogin --versionIf not installed:
az aks install-cli --kubeloginIf using a service principal (not recommended), rotate the credentials:
az ad sp credential reset --id <SERVICE_PRINCIPAL_ID>Wait 30 minutes for credentials to propagate across Azure regions before retrying.
Azure RBAC controls subscription-level access; you still need Kubernetes RoleBindings:
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: RoleBinding
metadata:
name: developer-access
namespace: default
roleRef:
apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
kind: ClusterRole
name: edit
subjects:
- kind: User
name: [email protected]If using managed identity, verify permissions:
az aks show --resource-group <RG> --name <CLUSTER> --query identityIf you just created a service principal or group, wait for propagation:
az ad user show --id [email protected]Newly created principals can take 1-2 minutes to propagate.
If using deprecated Azure AD integration, migrate to AKS-managed Entra:
az aks update --resource-group <RG> --name <CLUSTER> \
--enable-managed-identity \
--no-ssh-keyAKS supports two Entra integration methods: legacy (deprecated) and AKS-managed (recommended). Azure RBAC is subscription-level; Kubernetes RBAC is cluster-level. Both are needed for full access control. Workload Identity is the modern approach for pod-to-Azure service authentication, replacing Service Principal with credentials in pod secrets.
Failed to connect to server: connection refused (HTTP/2)
How to fix "HTTP/2 connection refused" error in Kubernetes
missing request for cpu in container
How to fix "missing request for cpu in container" in Kubernetes HPA
error: invalid configuration
How to fix "error: invalid configuration" in Kubernetes
etcdserver: cluster ID mismatch
How to fix "etcdserver: cluster ID mismatch" in Kubernetes
running with swap on is not supported
How to fix "running with swap on is not supported" in kubeadm