diff --git a/pkg/eks/auth/generator.go b/pkg/eks/auth/generator.go
index 8c7edc8d993..ecc8f9282e3 100644
--- a/pkg/eks/auth/generator.go
+++ b/pkg/eks/auth/generator.go
@@ -6,7 +6,10 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"time"
 
+	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go-v2/aws/retry"
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go-v2/service/sts"
+
+	"github.com/aws/smithy-go/middleware"
 	smithyhttp "github.com/aws/smithy-go/transport/http"
 
 	api "github.com/weaveworks/eksctl/pkg/apis/eksctl.io/v1alpha5"
@@ -68,5 +71,9 @@ func (g Generator) appendPresignHeaderValuesFunc(clusterID string) func(stsOptio
 		stsOptions.APIOptions = append(stsOptions.APIOptions, smithyhttp.SetHeaderValue(clusterIDHeader, clusterID))
 		// Add X-Amz-Expires query param
 		stsOptions.APIOptions = append(stsOptions.APIOptions, smithyhttp.SetHeaderValue("X-Amz-Expires", "60"))
+		stsOptions.APIOptions = append(stsOptions.APIOptions, func(stack *middleware.Stack) error {
+			_, err := stack.Finalize.Remove((&retry.MetricsHeader{}).ID())
+			return err
+		})
 	}
 }