diff --git a/plugin/pkg/auth/authorizer/rbac/bootstrappolicy/controller_policy.go b/plugin/pkg/auth/authorizer/rbac/bootstrappolicy/controller_policy.go
index 3a63ec9768b..6a937800fe8 100644
--- a/plugin/pkg/auth/authorizer/rbac/bootstrappolicy/controller_policy.go
+++ b/plugin/pkg/auth/authorizer/rbac/bootstrappolicy/controller_policy.go
@@ -153,6 +153,9 @@ func buildControllerRoles() ([]rbacv1.ClusterRole, []rbacv1.ClusterRoleBinding)
 			ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{Name: saRolePrefix + "endpointslice-controller"},
 			Rules: []rbacv1.PolicyRule{
 				rbacv1helpers.NewRule("get", "list", "watch").Groups(legacyGroup).Resources("services", "pods", "nodes").RuleOrDie(),
+				// The controller needs to be able to set a service's finalizers to be able to create an EndpointSlice
+				// resource that is owned by the service and sets blockOwnerDeletion=true in its ownerRef.
+				rbacv1helpers.NewRule("update").Groups(legacyGroup).Resources("services/finalizers").RuleOrDie(),
 				rbacv1helpers.NewRule("get", "list", "create", "update", "delete").Groups(discoveryGroup).Resources("endpointslices").RuleOrDie(),
 				eventsRule(),
 			},
diff --git a/plugin/pkg/auth/authorizer/rbac/bootstrappolicy/testdata/controller-roles.yaml b/plugin/pkg/auth/authorizer/rbac/bootstrappolicy/testdata/controller-roles.yaml
index 89808d315ab..954414b9eee 100644
--- a/plugin/pkg/auth/authorizer/rbac/bootstrappolicy/testdata/controller-roles.yaml
+++ b/plugin/pkg/auth/authorizer/rbac/bootstrappolicy/testdata/controller-roles.yaml
@@ -494,6 +494,12 @@ items:
     - get
     - list
     - watch
+  - apiGroups:
+    - ""
+    resources:
+    - services/finalizers
+    verbs:
+    - update
   - apiGroups:
     - discovery.k8s.io
     resources: