diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/auth/BUILD b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/auth/BUILD
index 8824bf0f2f7..3f9a44e6cfb 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/auth/BUILD
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/auth/BUILD
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ go_library(
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/cli-runtime/pkg/genericclioptions:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/cli-runtime/pkg/printers:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/cli-runtime/pkg/resource:go_default_library",
+        "//staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/discovery:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes/typed/authorization/v1:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes/typed/core/v1:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes/typed/rbac/v1:go_default_library",
diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/auth/cani.go b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/auth/cani.go
index 4aa28c18c45..52a66d9b7e8 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/auth/cani.go
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/auth/cani.go
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime/schema"
 	utilerrors "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/errors"
 	"k8s.io/cli-runtime/pkg/genericclioptions"
+	discovery "k8s.io/client-go/discovery"
 	authorizationv1client "k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes/typed/authorization/v1"
 	cmdutil "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubectl/cmd/util"
 	describeutil "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubectl/describe/versioned"
@@ -44,11 +45,12 @@ import (
 // CanIOptions is the start of the data required to perform the operation.  As new fields are added, add them here instead of
 // referencing the cmd.Flags()
 type CanIOptions struct {
-	AllNamespaces bool
-	Quiet         bool
-	NoHeaders     bool
-	Namespace     string
-	AuthClient    authorizationv1client.AuthorizationV1Interface
+	AllNamespaces   bool
+	Quiet           bool
+	NoHeaders       bool
+	Namespace       string
+	AuthClient      authorizationv1client.AuthorizationV1Interface
+	DiscoveryClient discovery.DiscoveryInterface
 
 	Verb           string
 	Resource       schema.GroupVersionResource
@@ -169,6 +171,7 @@ func (o *CanIOptions) Complete(f cmdutil.Factory, args []string) error {
 		return err
 	}
 	o.AuthClient = client.AuthorizationV1()
+	o.DiscoveryClient = client.Discovery()
 	o.Namespace = ""
 	if !o.AllNamespaces {
 		o.Namespace, _, err = f.ToRawKubeConfigLoader().Namespace()
@@ -196,6 +199,14 @@ func (o *CanIOptions) Validate() error {
 		if o.Resource != (schema.GroupVersionResource{}) || o.ResourceName != "" {
 			return fmt.Errorf("NonResourceURL and ResourceName can not specified together")
 		}
+	} else if !o.Resource.Empty() && !o.AllNamespaces && o.DiscoveryClient != nil {
+		if namespaced, err := isNamespaced(o.Resource, o.DiscoveryClient); err == nil && !namespaced {
+			if len(o.Resource.Group) == 0 {
+				fmt.Fprintf(o.ErrOut, "Warning: resource '%s' is not namespace scoped\n", o.Resource.Resource)
+			} else {
+				fmt.Fprintf(o.ErrOut, "Warning: resource '%s' is not namespace scoped in group '%s'\n", o.Resource.Resource, o.Resource.Group)
+			}
+		}
 	}
 
 	if o.NoHeaders {
@@ -360,3 +371,23 @@ func printAccess(out io.Writer, rules []rbacv1.PolicyRule) error {
 	}
 	return nil
 }
+
+func isNamespaced(gvr schema.GroupVersionResource, discoveryClient discovery.DiscoveryInterface) (bool, error) {
+	if gvr.Resource == "*" {
+		return true, nil
+	}
+	apiResourceList, err := discoveryClient.ServerResourcesForGroupVersion(schema.GroupVersion{
+		Group: gvr.Group, Version: gvr.Version,
+	}.String())
+	if err != nil {
+		return true, err
+	}
+
+	for _, resource := range apiResourceList.APIResources {
+		if resource.Name == gvr.Resource {
+			return resource.Namespaced, nil
+		}
+	}
+
+	return false, fmt.Errorf("the server doesn't have a resource type '%s' in group '%s'", gvr.Resource, gvr.Group)
+}
diff --git a/test/cmd/legacy-script.sh b/test/cmd/legacy-script.sh
index a30a3bb4e4e..83d8658e4d2 100755
--- a/test/cmd/legacy-script.sh
+++ b/test/cmd/legacy-script.sh
@@ -761,6 +761,27 @@ runTests() {
 
     output_message=$(kubectl auth can-i get pods --subresource=log --quiet 2>&1 "${kube_flags[@]}"; echo $?)
     kube::test::if_has_string "${output_message}" '0'
+
+    # kubectl auth can-i get '*' does not warn about namespaced scope or print an error
+    output_message=$(kubectl auth can-i get '*' 2>&1 "${kube_flags[@]}")
+    kube::test::if_has_not_string "${output_message}" "Warning"
+
+    # kubectl auth can-i get foo does not print a namespaced warning message, and only prints a single lookup error
+    output_message=$(kubectl auth can-i get foo 2>&1 "${kube_flags[@]}")
+    kube::test::if_has_string "${output_message}" "Warning: the server doesn't have a resource type 'foo'"
+    kube::test::if_has_not_string "${output_message}" "Warning: resource 'foo' is not namespace scoped"
+
+    # kubectl auth can-i get pods does not print a namespaced warning message or a lookup error
+    output_message=$(kubectl auth can-i get pods 2>&1 "${kube_flags[@]}")
+    kube::test::if_has_not_string "${output_message}" "Warning"
+
+    # kubectl auth can-i get nodes prints a namespaced warning message
+    output_message=$(kubectl auth can-i get nodes 2>&1 "${kube_flags[@]}")
+    kube::test::if_has_string "${output_message}" "Warning: resource 'nodes' is not namespace scoped"
+
+    # kubectl auth can-i get nodes --all-namespaces does not print a namespaced warning message
+    output_message=$(kubectl auth can-i get nodes --all-namespaces 2>&1 "${kube_flags[@]}")
+    kube::test::if_has_not_string "${output_message}" "Warning: resource 'nodes' is not namespace scoped"
   fi
 
   # kubectl auth reconcile