// Module included in the following assemblies:
//
// assembly-oauth.adoc

[id='con-oauth-authentication-flow-{context}']
= {oauth} authentication mechanism

The Kafka _SASL OAUTHBEARER_ mechanism is used to establish authenticated sessions with a Kafka broker.

A Kafka client initiates a session with the Kafka broker using the _SASL OAUTHBEARER_ mechanism for credentials exchange, where credentials take the form of an access token.

Kafka brokers and clients need to be configured to use {oauth}.
