diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/options/authorization.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/options/authorization.go
index 6b4129639fac1..ab78ff7ef77af 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/options/authorization.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/options/authorization.go
@@ -219,5 +219,10 @@ func (s *DelegatingAuthorizationOptions) getClient() (kubernetes.Interface, erro
 	clientConfig.Burst = 400
 	clientConfig.Timeout = s.ClientTimeout
 
-	return kubernetes.NewForConfig(clientConfig)
+	// make the client use protobuf
+	protoConfig := rest.CopyConfig(clientConfig)
+	protoConfig.AcceptContentTypes = "application/vnd.kubernetes.protobuf,application/json"
+	protoConfig.ContentType = "application/vnd.kubernetes.protobuf"
+
+	return kubernetes.NewForConfig(protoConfig)
 }