diff --git a/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/common/security/ssl/DefaultSslEngineFactory.java b/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/common/security/ssl/DefaultSslEngineFactory.java
index f921c679a6a25..712c819989434 100644
--- a/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/common/security/ssl/DefaultSslEngineFactory.java
+++ b/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/common/security/ssl/DefaultSslEngineFactory.java
@@ -287,8 +287,8 @@ else if (password != null)
         } else if (PEM_TYPE.equals(type) && path != null) {
             if (password != null)
                 throw new InvalidConfigurationException("SSL key store password cannot be specified with PEM format, only key password may be specified");
-            else if (keyPassword == null)
-                throw new InvalidConfigurationException("SSL PEM key store is specified, but key password is not specified.");
+// else if (keyPassword == null)
+//                throw new InvalidConfigurationException("SSL PEM key store is specified, but key password is not specified.");
             else
                 return new FileBasedPemStore(path, keyPassword, true);
         } else if (path == null && password != null) {