diff --git a/chart/kubeapps/templates/dashboard-config.yaml b/chart/kubeapps/templates/dashboard-config.yaml
index 8c5472a6ee5..618db5e77f0 100644
--- a/chart/kubeapps/templates/dashboard-config.yaml
+++ b/chart/kubeapps/templates/dashboard-config.yaml
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ data:
     {
       "namespace": "{{ .Release.Namespace }}",
       "appVersion": "{{ .Chart.AppVersion }}",
-      "authProxyEnabled": {{ .Values.authProxy.enabled }},
+      "authProxyEnabled": {{ or .Values.authProxy.enabled .Values.authProxy.externallyEnabled }},
       "oauthLoginURI": {{ .Values.authProxy.oauthLoginURI | quote }},
       "oauthLogoutURI": {{ .Values.authProxy.oauthLogoutURI | quote }},
       "featureFlags": {{ .Values.featureFlags | toJson }}
diff --git a/chart/kubeapps/templates/kubeapps-frontend-deployment.yaml b/chart/kubeapps/templates/kubeapps-frontend-deployment.yaml
index 65f84feffed..648a151787c 100644
--- a/chart/kubeapps/templates/kubeapps-frontend-deployment.yaml
+++ b/chart/kubeapps/templates/kubeapps-frontend-deployment.yaml
@@ -83,6 +83,10 @@ spec:
           {{- if .Values.authProxy.resources }}
           resources: {{- toYaml .Values.authProxy.resources | nindent 12 }}
           {{- end }}
+        {{- else }}
+          {{- if and .Values.featureFlags.additionalClusters (not .Values.authProxy.externallyEnabled) }}
+            {{ fail "additionalClusters can be configured only when using an authenticate proxy for cluster oidc authentication."}}
+          {{ end -}}
         {{- end }}
       volumes:
         - name: vhost
diff --git a/chart/kubeapps/values.yaml b/chart/kubeapps/values.yaml
index d8c1d169d86..7a84c3b6b77 100644
--- a/chart/kubeapps/values.yaml
+++ b/chart/kubeapps/values.yaml
@@ -638,6 +638,9 @@ testImage:
 authProxy:
   # Set to true to enable the OIDC proxy
   enabled: false
+  # Set to true if an external auth proxy is setup to provide cookie authentication
+  # at the oauthLoginURI and oauthLogoutURI values below.
+  externallyEnabled: false
   ## Bitnami OAuth2 Proxy image
   ## ref: https://hub.docker.com/r/bitnami/oauth2-proxy/tags/
   ##