diff --git a/.ci/setup_kong_ee.sh b/.ci/setup_kong_ee.sh
index c07bfbbc7..d080a12a4 100755
--- a/.ci/setup_kong_ee.sh
+++ b/.ci/setup_kong_ee.sh
@@ -64,11 +64,17 @@ readonly GATEWAY_CONTAINER_NAME=kong
 
 KONG_ROUTER_FLAVOR=${KONG_ROUTER_FLAVOR:-'traditional_compatible'}
 KONG_CUSTOM_PLUGIN_STREAMING_ENABLED=${KONG_CUSTOM_PLUGIN_STREAMING_ENABLED:-'on'}
+KONG_ENFORCE_RBAC=${KONG_ENFORCE_RBAC:-'off'}
+if [[ "${KONG_ENFORCE_RBAC}" == "on" ]]; then
+    KONG_PASSWORD=${KONG_PASSWORD:-'kong_admin_token'}
+fi
+KONG_PASSWORD=${KONG_PASSWORD:-''}
 
 initNetwork
 initDb
 initMigrations "${KONG_IMAGE}" \
-    -e "KONG_LICENSE_DATA=${KONG_LICENSE_DATA}"
+    -e "KONG_LICENSE_DATA=${KONG_LICENSE_DATA}" \
+    -e "KONG_PASSWORD=${KONG_PASSWORD}"
 
 # Start Kong Gateway EE
 docker run \
@@ -83,6 +89,8 @@ docker run \
     -e "MY_SECRET_KEY=$MY_SECRET_KEY" \
     -e "KONG_ROUTER_FLAVOR=${KONG_ROUTER_FLAVOR}" \
     -e "KONG_CUSTOM_PLUGIN_STREAMING_ENABLED=${KONG_CUSTOM_PLUGIN_STREAMING_ENABLED}" \
+    -e "KONG_ENFORCE_RBAC=${KONG_ENFORCE_RBAC}" \
+    -e "KONG_PASSWORD=${KONG_PASSWORD}" \
     -p 8000:8000 \
     -p 8443:8443 \
     -p 8001:8001 \
diff --git a/.github/workflows/integration-enterprise.yaml b/.github/workflows/integration-enterprise.yaml
index d4de82fd1..4b53bf3f8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/integration-enterprise.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/integration-enterprise.yaml
@@ -72,3 +72,53 @@ jobs:
           KONG_LICENSE_DATA: ${{ steps.license.outputs.license }}
         run: make test-integration
         continue-on-error: ${{ matrix.kong_image == 'kong/kong-gateway-dev:latest' }}
+
+  integration-rbac:
+    # Skip if the PR has the 'skip-ee' label
+    if: ${{ github.event_name == 'push' || !contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'skip-ee') }}
+    timeout-minutes: ${{ fromJSON(vars.DECK_WORKFLOW_GW_TIMEOUT || '10') }}
+    strategy:
+      matrix:
+        kong_image:
+        - 'kong/kong-gateway:2.8'
+        - 'kong/kong-gateway:3.4'
+        - 'kong/kong-gateway:3.10'
+        - 'kong/kong-gateway:3.14'
+        - 'kong/kong-gateway-dev:latest'
+    env:
+      KONG_ANONYMOUS_REPORTS: "off"
+      KONG_IMAGE: ${{ matrix.kong_image }}
+      KONG_ENFORCE_RBAC: 'on'
+      KONG_PASSWORD: 'kong_admin_token'
+      KONG_ADMIN_TOKEN: 'kong_admin_token'
+
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Harden Runner
+        uses: step-security/harden-runner@9af89fc71515a100421586dfdb3dc9c984fbf411 # v2.19.4
+        with:
+          egress-policy: audit
+      - name: Checkout repository
+        uses: actions/checkout@df4cb1c069e1874edd31b4311f1884172cec0e10 # v6.0.3
+      - name: Setup go
+        uses: actions/setup-go@4a3601121dd01d1626a1e23e37211e3254c1c06c # v6.4.0
+        with:
+          go-version-file: go.mod
+      - name: Login to Docker Hub
+        uses: docker/login-action@5e57cd118135c172c3672efd75eb46360885c0ef
+        with:
+          username: ${{secrets.DOCKER_ORG_NAME}}
+          password: ${{secrets.DOCKER_ORG_TOKEN}}
+      - uses: Kong/kong-license@master
+        id: license
+        with:
+          op-token: ${{ secrets.OP_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN }}
+      - name: Setup Kong
+        env:
+          KONG_LICENSE_DATA: ${{ steps.license.outputs.license }}
+        run: make setup-kong-ee
+      - name: Run RBAC admin-token integration test
+        env:
+          KONG_LICENSE_DATA: ${{ steps.license.outputs.license }}
+        run: make test-integration GOTESTFLAGS='-run Test_RBAC_AdminToken'
+        continue-on-error: ${{ matrix.kong_image == 'kong/kong-gateway-dev:latest' }}
diff --git a/cmd/root.go b/cmd/root.go
index dcc07d1f2..c11f1e951 100644
--- a/cmd/root.go
+++ b/cmd/root.go
@@ -211,6 +211,13 @@ It can be used to export, import, or sync entities to Kong.`,
 
 	rootCmd.MarkFlagsMutuallyExclusive("konnect-runtime-group-name", "konnect-control-plane-name")
 
+	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().String("kong-admin-token", "",
+		"Token to use for authentication with Kong's Admin API.\n"+
+			"This value can also be set using DECK_KONG_ADMIN_TOKEN "+
+			"environment variable.")
+	viper.BindPFlag("kong-admin-token",
+		rootCmd.PersistentFlags().Lookup("kong-admin-token"))
+
 	rootCmd.AddCommand(newVersionCmd())
 	rootCmd.AddCommand(newCompletionCmd())
 	rootCmd.AddCommand(newSyncCmd(true))            // deprecated, to exist under the `gateway` subcommand only
@@ -316,7 +323,11 @@ func initConfig() {
 	tlsSkipVerify := viper.GetBool("tls-skip-verify")
 	tlsCACert := caCertContent
 
-	rootConfig.Headers = extendHeaders(viper.GetStringSlice("headers"))
+	rootConfig.Headers = extendHeaders(
+		viper.GetStringSlice("headers"),
+		header{name: "Kong-Admin-Token", value: viper.GetString("kong-admin-token")},
+	)
+
 	rootConfig.SkipWorkspaceCrud = viper.GetBool("skip-workspace-crud")
 	rootConfig.Debug = (viper.GetInt("verbose") >= 1)
 	rootConfig.Timeout = (viper.GetInt("timeout"))
@@ -417,10 +428,40 @@ func initKonnectConfig() error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func extendHeaders(headers []string) []string {
-	userAgentHeader := fmt.Sprintf("User-Agent:decK/%s", VERSION)
-	headers = append(headers, userAgentHeader)
-	return headers
+type header struct {
+	name  string
+	value string
+}
+
+func extendHeaders(headers []string, extra ...header) []string {
+	result := make([]string, 0, len(headers)+len(extra)+1)
+	result = append(result, fmt.Sprintf("User-Agent:decK/%s", VERSION))
+
+	for _, h := range headers {
+		name, _, _ := strings.Cut(h, ":")
+		// skip --headers entries already set by a dedicated flag to avoid header collisions
+		if !overriddenBy(name, extra) {
+			result = append(result, h)
+		}
+	}
+
+	for _, h := range extra {
+		if h.value != "" {
+			result = append(result, fmt.Sprintf("%s:%s", h.name, h.value))
+		}
+	}
+	return result
+}
+
+// reports whether the given header name collides with an explicit header set by a dedicated flag
+func overriddenBy(name string, extra []header) bool {
+	name = strings.TrimSpace(name)
+	for _, h := range extra {
+		if h.value != "" && strings.EqualFold(name, h.name) {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
 }
 
 func init() {
diff --git a/tests/integration/rbac_admin_token_test.go b/tests/integration/rbac_admin_token_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8371de1b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/integration/rbac_admin_token_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+//go:build integration
+
+package integration
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+// Test_RBAC_AdminToken exercises the --kong-admin-token flag (added to
+// authenticate against an RBAC-enabled Kong Admin API).
+//
+// It only runs against an Enterprise Kong instance with RBAC enforcement
+// enabled, which is provided by the dedicated `integration-rbac` job in
+// .github/workflows/integration-enterprise.yaml. When RBAC is enforced, a
+// command that talks to the Admin API must fail without a valid admin token
+// and succeed once the token is supplied.
+func Test_RBAC_AdminToken(t *testing.T) {
+	runWhenRBAC(t, ">=2.8.0")
+
+	// disable analytics for integration tests
+	t.Setenv("DECK_ANALYTICS", "off")
+
+	// The CI job seeds the kong_admin token in KONG_ADMIN_TOKEN; fall back to
+	// the decK CLI variable for local runs.
+	adminToken := os.Getenv("KONG_ADMIN_TOKEN")
+	if adminToken == "" {
+		adminToken = os.Getenv("DECK_KONG_ADMIN_TOKEN")
+	}
+	require.NotEmpty(t, adminToken,
+		"KONG_ADMIN_TOKEN or DECK_KONG_ADMIN_TOKEN must be set when running RBAC tests")
+
+	// online validation hits the Admin API but does not mutate state, so no
+	// reset/cleanup (which would itself require the token) is needed.
+	const stateFile = "testdata/validate/kong-ee.yaml"
+
+	t.Run("fails when kong-admin-token is not passed", func(t *testing.T) {
+		// make sure the CLI cannot pick the token up from the environment, so
+		// the request reaches Kong unauthenticated.
+		t.Setenv("DECK_KONG_ADMIN_TOKEN", "")
+
+		err := validate(ONLINE, stateFile)
+		require.Error(t, err,
+			"online validate should fail against an RBAC-enabled Kong without an admin token")
+		// Require that it fails *specifically* because of authentication (HTTP 401)
+		// rather than some unrelated error (bad file, gateway down, etc.).
+		// go-kong formats API errors as `HTTP status 401 (message: ...)`.
+		require.Contains(t, err.Error(), "401",
+			"expected an authentication failure (HTTP 401), got: %v", err)
+	})
+
+	t.Run("succeeds when kong-admin-token is passed", func(t *testing.T) {
+		// scrub the env so the token can only come from the flag, proving the
+		// flag is what authenticates the request.
+		t.Setenv("DECK_KONG_ADMIN_TOKEN", "")
+
+		err := validate(ONLINE, stateFile, "--kong-admin-token", adminToken)
+		require.NoError(t, err,
+			"online validate should succeed against an RBAC-enabled Kong with a valid admin token")
+	})
+
+	t.Run("kong-admin-token takes precedence over a colliding --headers value", func(t *testing.T) {
+		// scrub the env so the token can only come from the flags under test.
+		t.Setenv("DECK_KONG_ADMIN_TOKEN", "")
+
+		// Supply an invalid Kong-Admin-Token via --headers alongside the valid
+		// token via --kong-admin-token. The explicit flag must win, so the
+		// invalid header value is dropped and the request authenticates.
+		err := validate(ONLINE, stateFile,
+			"--headers", "Kong-Admin-Token:invalid-token",
+			"--kong-admin-token", adminToken)
+		require.NoError(t, err,
+			"online validate should succeed: --kong-admin-token must override the "+
+				"colliding Kong-Admin-Token supplied via --headers")
+	})
+}
diff --git a/tests/integration/test_utils.go b/tests/integration/test_utils.go
index 28b7490b1..d701bad7e 100644
--- a/tests/integration/test_utils.go
+++ b/tests/integration/test_utils.go
@@ -119,6 +119,12 @@ func runWhenExpressions(t *testing.T, semverRange string) {
 	kong.RunWhenKongRouterFlavor(t, "expressions")
 }
 
+func runWhenRBAC(t *testing.T, semverRange string) {
+	t.Helper()
+	skipWhenKonnect(t)
+	kong.RunWhenEnterprise(t, semverRange, kong.RequiredFeatures{RBAC: true})
+}
+
 func sortSlices(x, y interface{}) bool {
 	var xName, yName string
 	switch xEntity := x.(type) {