diff --git a/bitnami/pgbouncer/1/debian-11/rootfs/opt/bitnami/scripts/libpgbouncer.sh b/bitnami/pgbouncer/1/debian-11/rootfs/opt/bitnami/scripts/libpgbouncer.sh
index 73ccc14df035..a13552100ee6 100644
--- a/bitnami/pgbouncer/1/debian-11/rootfs/opt/bitnami/scripts/libpgbouncer.sh
+++ b/bitnami/pgbouncer/1/debian-11/rootfs/opt/bitnami/scripts/libpgbouncer.sh
@@ -64,6 +64,15 @@ pgbouncer_validate() {
         fi
     fi
 
+    # HBA Checks 
+    if [[ "$PGBOUNCER_AUTH_TYPE" == "hba" ]] ; then
+        if [[ -z "$PGBOUNCER_AUTH_HBA_FILE" ]]; then
+            print_validation_error "A hba file was not provided. You need to set this value when specifying auth_type to hba"
+        elif [[ ! -f "$PGBOUNCER_AUTH_HBA_FILE" ]]; then
+            print_validation_error "The hba file in the specified path ${PGBOUNCER_AUTH_HBA_FILE} does not exist"
+        fi
+    fi
+
     # TLS Checks (client)
     if [[ "$PGBOUNCER_CLIENT_TLS_SSLMODE" != "disable" ]]; then
         if [[ -z "$PGBOUNCER_CLIENT_TLS_CERT_FILE" ]]; then
@@ -228,6 +237,7 @@ pgbouncer_initialize() {
             "unix_socket_group:${PGBOUNCER_SOCKET_GROUP}"
             "auth_file:${PGBOUNCER_AUTH_FILE}"
             "auth_type:${PGBOUNCER_AUTH_TYPE}"
+            "auth_hba_file:${PGBOUNCER_AUTH_HBA_FILE}"
             "auth_query:${PGBOUNCER_AUTH_QUERY}"
             "pidfile:${PGBOUNCER_PID_FILE}"
             "logfile:${PGBOUNCER_LOG_FILE}"
diff --git a/bitnami/pgbouncer/1/debian-11/rootfs/opt/bitnami/scripts/pgbouncer-env.sh b/bitnami/pgbouncer/1/debian-11/rootfs/opt/bitnami/scripts/pgbouncer-env.sh
index e26e18dac59f..b6c90f0858a5 100644
--- a/bitnami/pgbouncer/1/debian-11/rootfs/opt/bitnami/scripts/pgbouncer-env.sh
+++ b/bitnami/pgbouncer/1/debian-11/rootfs/opt/bitnami/scripts/pgbouncer-env.sh
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ pgbouncer_env_vars=(
     PGBOUNCER_AUTH_USER
     PGBOUNCER_AUTH_QUERY
     PGBOUNCER_AUTH_TYPE
+    PGBOUNCER_AUTH_HBA_FILE
     PGBOUNCER_STATS_USERS
     PGBOUNCER_POOL_MODE
     PGBOUNCER_INIT_SLEEP_TIME
@@ -116,6 +117,7 @@ export PGBOUNCER_LISTEN_ADDRESS="${PGBOUNCER_LISTEN_ADDRESS:-0.0.0.0}"
 export PGBOUNCER_AUTH_USER="${PGBOUNCER_AUTH_USER:-}"
 export PGBOUNCER_AUTH_QUERY="${PGBOUNCER_AUTH_QUERY:-}"
 export PGBOUNCER_AUTH_TYPE="${PGBOUNCER_AUTH_TYPE:-md5}"
+export PGBOUNCER_AUTH_HBA_FILE="${PGBOUNCER_AUTH_HBA_FILE:-}"
 export PGBOUNCER_STATS_USERS="${PGBOUNCER_STATS_USERS:-}"
 export PGBOUNCER_POOL_MODE="${PGBOUNCER_POOL_MODE:-}"
 export PGBOUNCER_INIT_SLEEP_TIME="${PGBOUNCER_INIT_SLEEP_TIME:-10}"