Version 2.6.0 produces error "The request was rejected by firewall checks" on Azure EventHub/Kubernetes

[sdg002]

Description

I am deploying a Python solution on Azure Kubernetes. The code subscribes to a Topic in Azure EventHub. Everything worked well - till the time I switched to version 2.6.0 (released on October 10th )

How to reproduce

I have used code which is similar to the sample code on Confluent's portal.

Checklist

Please provide the following information:

• [2.6.0 ] confluent-kafka-python and librdkafka version (confluent_kafka.version() and confluent_kafka.libversion()):
• [ Azure Event Hub] Apache Kafka broker version:
• [ ] Client configuration: Python 3.9 , running in Kubernetes pods, subscribing to Azure EventHub topic
• [Linux ] Operating system:
• [Yes] Provide client logs (with 'debug': '..' as necessary)
• [No ] Provide broker log excerpts
• [Not any more] Critical issue

Error logged in Kubernetes

%3|1728903963.856|FAIL|rdkafka#consumer-1| [thrd:sasl_ssl://********servicebus.windows.net:9093/bootst]: sasl_ssl://*******.servicebus.windows.net:9093/0: SASL authentication error: The request was rejected by firewall checks. (after 1ms in state AUTH_REQ)

What worked

I rolled back to version 2.5.3 of the confluent-kafka package