diff --git a/examples/kong-consumer-key-auth.yaml b/examples/kong-consumer-key-auth.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7b6b583287
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/kong-consumer-key-auth.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+apiVersion: configuration.konghq.com/v1
+kind: KongConsumer
+metadata:
+  name: consumer1
+  annotations:
+      kubernetes.io/ingress.class: kong
+username: consumer1
+credentials:
+- consumer1-auth
+---
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Secret
+metadata:
+  name: consumer1-auth
+  labels:
+    konghq.com/credential: key-auth
+type: Opaque
+stringData:
+  key: password
+---
+apiVersion: apps/v1
+kind: Deployment
+metadata:
+  name: httpbin-deployment
+  labels:
+    app: httpbin
+spec:
+  replicas: 1
+  selector:
+    matchLabels:
+      app: httpbin
+  template:
+    metadata:
+      labels:
+        app: httpbin
+    spec:
+      containers:
+      - name: httpbin
+        image: kong/httpbin:0.1.0
+        ports:
+        - containerPort: 80
+---
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Service
+metadata:
+  labels:
+    app: httpbin
+  name: httpbin-deployment
+spec:
+  ports:
+  - port: 80
+    protocol: TCP
+    targetPort: 80
+  selector:
+    app: httpbin
+  type: ClusterIP
+---
+apiVersion: configuration.konghq.com/v1
+kind: KongPlugin
+metadata:
+  name: key-auth-1
+plugin: key-auth
+---
+apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
+kind: Ingress
+metadata:
+  name: httpbin-ingress
+  annotations:
+    konghq.com/strip-path: "true"
+    konghq.com/plugins: key-auth-1
+spec:
+  ingressClassName: kong
+  rules:
+  - http:
+      paths:
+      - path: /
+        pathType: Prefix
+        backend:
+          service:
+            name: httpbin-deployment
+            port:
+              number: 80
diff --git a/internal/admission/validation/consumers/credentials/validation.go b/internal/admission/validation/consumers/credentials/validation.go
index 7bea486875..5ba0825b6a 100644
--- a/internal/admission/validation/consumers/credentials/validation.go
+++ b/internal/admission/validation/consumers/credentials/validation.go
@@ -112,12 +112,13 @@ type Index map[string]map[string]map[string]struct{}
 // and will validate it for both normal structure validation and for
 // unique key constraint violations.
 func (cs Index) ValidateCredentialsForUniqueKeyConstraints(secret *corev1.Secret) error {
-	// the indication of credential type is required to be present on all credentials.
-	credentialTypeB, ok := secret.Data[TypeKey]
-	if !ok {
-		return fmt.Errorf("missing required key %s", TypeKey)
+	credentialType, credentialSource := util.ExtractKongCredentialType(secret)
+	if credentialSource == util.CredentialTypeAbsent {
+		return fmt.Errorf(
+			"secret has no credential type, add a %s label",
+			labels.LabelPrefix+labels.CredentialKey,
+		)
 	}
-	credentialType := string(credentialTypeB)
 
 	// the additional key/values are optional, but must be validated
 	// for unique constraint violations. Using an index of credentials
diff --git a/internal/admission/validator_test.go b/internal/admission/validator_test.go
index 832a7c4de5..eb9e124b9a 100644
--- a/internal/admission/validator_test.go
+++ b/internal/admission/validator_test.go
@@ -16,6 +16,9 @@ import (
 	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
 	apiextensionsv1 "k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apis/apiextensions/v1"
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime"
+	testk8sclient "k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes/fake"
+	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/client/fake"
 
 	"github.com/kong/kubernetes-ingress-controller/v3/internal/annotations"
 	"github.com/kong/kubernetes-ingress-controller/v3/internal/store"
@@ -562,6 +565,7 @@ func fakeClassMatcher(*metav1.ObjectMeta, string, annotations.ClassMatching) boo
 func TestKongHTTPValidator_ValidateCredential(t *testing.T) {
 	testCases := []struct {
 		name            string
+		consumers       []kongv1.KongConsumer
 		secret          corev1.Secret
 		wantOK          bool
 		wantMessage     string
@@ -606,6 +610,29 @@ func TestKongHTTPValidator_ValidateCredential(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 			wantOK: true,
 		},
+		{
+			name: "valid key-auth credential using only konghq.com/credential with a consumer gets accepted",
+			consumers: []kongv1.KongConsumer{
+				{
+					Username: "username",
+					Credentials: []string{
+						"username-key-auth-1",
+					},
+				},
+			},
+			secret: corev1.Secret{
+				ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+					Name: "username-key-auth-1",
+					Labels: map[string]string{
+						"konghq.com/credential": "key-auth",
+					},
+				},
+				Data: map[string][]byte{
+					"key": []byte("my-key"),
+				},
+			},
+			wantOK: true,
+		},
 		{
 			name: "invalid key-auth credential with no consumers gets rejected",
 			secret: corev1.Secret{
@@ -622,8 +649,16 @@ func TestKongHTTPValidator_ValidateCredential(t *testing.T) {
 	for _, tc := range testCases {
 		tc := tc
 		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			scheme := runtime.NewScheme()
+			require.NoError(t, testk8sclient.AddToScheme(scheme))
+			require.NoError(t, kongv1.AddToScheme(scheme))
+			b := fake.NewClientBuilder().WithScheme(scheme)
+
 			validator := KongHTTPValidator{
-				ConsumerGetter:           fakeConsumerGetter{},
+				ManagerClient: b.Build(),
+				ConsumerGetter: fakeConsumerGetter{
+					consumers: tc.consumers,
+				},
 				AdminAPIServicesProvider: fakeServicesProvider{},
 				ingressClassMatcher:      fakeClassMatcher,
 				Logger:                   logr.Discard(),