diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/50448-paramiko_ssh_add_auth_timeout.yaml b/changelogs/fragments/50448-paramiko_ssh_add_auth_timeout.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..464d8882c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/50448-paramiko_ssh_add_auth_timeout.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - paramiko_ssh - add auth_timeout parameter to ssh.connect when supported by installed paramiko version. This will prevent "Authentication timeout" errors when a slow authentication step (>30s) happens with a host (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/42596)
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/paramiko_ssh.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/paramiko_ssh.py
index f6c8df219c..e5b51bad0a 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/paramiko_ssh.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/paramiko_ssh.py
@@ -137,6 +137,7 @@ import sys
 import re
 
 from termios import tcflush, TCIFLUSH
+from distutils.version import LooseVersion
 from binascii import hexlify
 
 from ansible import constants as C
@@ -323,7 +324,7 @@ class Connection(ConnectionBase):
                     pass  # file was not found, but not required to function
             ssh.load_system_host_keys()
 
-        sock_kwarg = self._parse_proxy_command(port)
+        ssh_connect_kwargs = self._parse_proxy_command(port)
 
         ssh.set_missing_host_key_policy(MyAddPolicy(self._new_stdin, self))
 
@@ -337,6 +338,10 @@ class Connection(ConnectionBase):
             if self._play_context.private_key_file:
                 key_filename = os.path.expanduser(self._play_context.private_key_file)
 
+            # paramiko 2.2 introduced auth_timeout parameter
+            if LooseVersion(paramiko.__version__) >= LooseVersion('2.2.0'):
+                ssh_connect_kwargs['auth_timeout'] = self._play_context.timeout
+
             ssh.connect(
                 self._play_context.remote_addr.lower(),
                 username=self._play_context.remote_user,
@@ -346,7 +351,7 @@ class Connection(ConnectionBase):
                 password=self._play_context.password,
                 timeout=self._play_context.timeout,
                 port=port,
-                **sock_kwarg
+                **ssh_connect_kwargs
             )
         except paramiko.ssh_exception.BadHostKeyException as e:
             raise AnsibleConnectionFailure('host key mismatch for %s' % e.hostname)