diff --git a/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/admin/KafkaAdminClient.java b/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/admin/KafkaAdminClient.java
index a677f6624c3e3..c59cccf67c4b8 100644
--- a/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/admin/KafkaAdminClient.java
+++ b/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/admin/KafkaAdminClient.java
@@ -2326,7 +2326,7 @@ private Map<String, KafkaFuture<TopicDescription>> handleDescribeTopicsByNamesWi
         clusterResult.nodes().whenComplete(
             (nodes, exception) -> {
                 if (exception != null) {
-                    completeAllExceptionally(topicFutures.values(), exception.getCause());
+                    completeAllExceptionally(topicFutures.values(), exception);
                     return;
                 }
 
diff --git a/clients/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/common/security/authenticator/ClientAuthenticationFailureTest.java b/clients/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/common/security/authenticator/ClientAuthenticationFailureTest.java
index d9261f82bc6ee..a0e22ee150552 100644
--- a/clients/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/common/security/authenticator/ClientAuthenticationFailureTest.java
+++ b/clients/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/common/security/authenticator/ClientAuthenticationFailureTest.java
@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@
 import org.apache.kafka.test.TestUtils;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterEach;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
-import org.junit.jupiter.api.Disabled;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 
 import java.time.Duration;
@@ -111,9 +110,6 @@ public void testProducerWithInvalidCredentials() {
     }
 
     @Test
-    // The test runs forever on trunk after c01279b9. (KAFKA-16916)
-    // We disable the test temporarily until we fix it to unblock the CI.
-    @Disabled
     public void testAdminClientWithInvalidCredentials() {
         Map<String, Object> props = new HashMap<>(saslClientConfigs);
         props.put(ProducerConfig.BOOTSTRAP_SERVERS_CONFIG, "localhost:" + server.port());