diff --git a/ansible/playbooks/roles/kafka/defaults/main.yml b/ansible/playbooks/roles/kafka/defaults/main.yml
index 418416f82f..d20bad6641 100644
--- a/ansible/playbooks/roles/kafka/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/ansible/playbooks/roles/kafka/defaults/main.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
-kafka_version: 2.6.0
+kafka_version: 2.8.1
 scala_version: 2.12
-kafka_bin_filename: "kafka_2.12-2.6.0.tgz"
+kafka_bin_filename: "kafka_2.12-2.8.1.tgz"
 kafka_install_dir: "/opt/kafka_{{ scala_version }}-{{ kafka_version }}"
 
 prometheus_jmx_exporter_path: /opt/jmx-exporter/jmx_prometheus_javaagent.jar
diff --git a/ansible/playbooks/roles/kafka/tasks/common/download_and_unpack_binary.yml b/ansible/playbooks/roles/kafka/tasks/common/download_and_unpack_binary.yml
index 3f7450c9a9..59d7974b2a 100644
--- a/ansible/playbooks/roles/kafka/tasks/common/download_and_unpack_binary.yml
+++ b/ansible/playbooks/roles/kafka/tasks/common/download_and_unpack_binary.yml
@@ -19,4 +19,4 @@
     path: "{{ kafka_install_dir }}"
     state: directory
     owner: kafka
-    group: kafka
\ No newline at end of file
+    group: kafka
diff --git a/ansible/playbooks/roles/repository/files/download-requirements/requirements/x86_64/files.yml b/ansible/playbooks/roles/repository/files/download-requirements/requirements/x86_64/files.yml
index 27734b80ec..cf1c6844dc 100644
--- a/ansible/playbooks/roles/repository/files/download-requirements/requirements/x86_64/files.yml
+++ b/ansible/playbooks/roles/repository/files/download-requirements/requirements/x86_64/files.yml
@@ -14,8 +14,8 @@ files:
     sha256: 1d1a008c5e29673b404a9ce119b7516fa59974aeda2f47d4a0446d102abce8a1
 
   # --- Misc ---
-  'https://archive.apache.org/dist/kafka/2.6.0/kafka_2.12-2.6.0.tgz':
-    sha256: 086bf9ca1fcbe2abe5c62e73d6f172adb1ee5a5b42732e153fb4d4ec82dab69f
+  'https://archive.apache.org/dist/kafka/2.8.1/kafka_2.12-2.8.1.tgz':
+    sha256: 175a4134efc569a586d58916cd16ce70f868b13dea2b5a3d12a67b1395d59f98
 
   'https://archive.apache.org/dist/zookeeper/zookeeper-3.5.8/apache-zookeeper-3.5.8-bin.tar.gz':
     sha256: c35ed6786d59b73920243f1a324d24c2ddfafb379041d7a350cc9a341c52caf3