diff --git a/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/KafkaConsumer.java b/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/KafkaConsumer.java
index 92e4cf2a55078..7038c7b29c63f 100644
--- a/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/KafkaConsumer.java
+++ b/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/KafkaConsumer.java
@@ -878,7 +878,10 @@ public void assign(Collection<TopicPartition> partitions) {
      * @throws org.apache.kafka.common.errors.InvalidTopicException if the current subscription contains any invalid
      *             topic (per {@link org.apache.kafka.common.internals.Topic#validate(String)})
      * @throws org.apache.kafka.common.errors.UnsupportedVersionException if the consumer attempts to fetch stable offsets
-     *             when the broker doesn't support this feature
+     *             when the broker doesn't support this feature. Also, if the consumer attempts to subscribe to a
+     *             SubscriptionPattern via {@link #subscribe(SubscriptionPattern)} or
+     *             {@link #subscribe(SubscriptionPattern, ConsumerRebalanceListener)} and the broker doesn't
+     *             support this feature.
      * @throws org.apache.kafka.common.errors.FencedInstanceIdException if this consumer instance gets fenced by broker.
      */
     @Override
diff --git a/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/internals/AbstractHeartbeatRequestManager.java b/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/internals/AbstractHeartbeatRequestManager.java
index 9c1a63cd79a37..b260e5e5fbf6b 100644
--- a/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/internals/AbstractHeartbeatRequestManager.java
+++ b/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/internals/AbstractHeartbeatRequestManager.java
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.internals.metrics.HeartbeatMetricsManager;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.errors.GroupAuthorizationException;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.errors.RetriableException;
+import org.apache.kafka.common.errors.UnsupportedVersionException;
+import org.apache.kafka.common.protocol.ApiKeys;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.protocol.Errors;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.requests.AbstractResponse;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.utils.LogContext;
@@ -94,6 +96,10 @@ public abstract class AbstractHeartbeatRequestManager<R extends AbstractResponse
      */
     private final HeartbeatMetricsManager metricsManager;
 
+    public static final String CONSUMER_PROTOCOL_NOT_SUPPORTED_MSG = "The cluster does not support the new CONSUMER " +
+        "group protocol. Set group.protocol=classic on the consumer configs to revert to the CLASSIC protocol " +
+        "until the cluster is upgraded.";
+
     AbstractHeartbeatRequestManager(
             final LogContext logContext,
             final Time time,
@@ -313,12 +319,29 @@ private void onFailure(final Throwable exception, final long responseTimeMs) {
             logger.debug(message);
         } else {
             logger.error("{} failed due to fatal error: {}", heartbeatRequestName(), exception.getMessage());
-            handleFatalFailure(exception);
+            if (isHBApiUnsupportedErrorMsg(exception)) {
+                // This is expected to be the case where building the request fails because the node does not support
+                // the API. Propagate custom message.
+                handleFatalFailure(new UnsupportedVersionException(CONSUMER_PROTOCOL_NOT_SUPPORTED_MSG, exception));
+            } else {
+                // This is the case where building the request fails even though the node supports the API (ex.
+                // required version 1 not available when regex in use).
+                handleFatalFailure(exception);
+            }
         }
         // Notify the group manager about the failure after all errors have been handled and propagated.
         membershipManager().onHeartbeatFailure(exception instanceof RetriableException);
     }
 
+    /***
+     * @return True if the exception is the UnsupportedVersion generated on the client, before sending the request,
+     * when checking if the API is available on the broker.
+     */
+    private boolean isHBApiUnsupportedErrorMsg(Throwable exception) {
+        return exception instanceof UnsupportedVersionException &&
+            exception.getMessage().equals("The node does not support " + ApiKeys.CONSUMER_GROUP_HEARTBEAT);
+    }
+
     private void onResponse(final R response, final long currentTimeMs) {
         if (errorForResponse(response) == Errors.NONE) {
             heartbeatRequestState.updateHeartbeatIntervalMs(heartbeatIntervalForResponse(response));
@@ -382,10 +405,11 @@ private void onErrorResponse(final R response, final long currentTimeMs) {
                 break;
 
             case UNSUPPORTED_VERSION:
-                message = "The cluster doesn't yet support the new consumer group protocol." +
-                        " Set group.protocol=classic to revert to the classic protocol until the cluster is upgraded.";
+                // Broker responded with HB not supported, meaning the new protocol is not enabled, so propagate
+                // custom message for it. Note that the case where the protocol is not supported at all should fail
+                // on the client side when building the request and checking supporting APIs (handled on onFailure).
                 logger.error("{} failed due to {}: {}", heartbeatRequestName(), error, errorMessage);
-                handleFatalFailure(error.exception(message));
+                handleFatalFailure(error.exception(CONSUMER_PROTOCOL_NOT_SUPPORTED_MSG));
                 break;
 
             case FENCED_MEMBER_EPOCH:
diff --git a/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/common/requests/ConsumerGroupHeartbeatRequest.java b/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/common/requests/ConsumerGroupHeartbeatRequest.java
index 937110efcad4d..4f977a99fbe09 100644
--- a/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/common/requests/ConsumerGroupHeartbeatRequest.java
+++ b/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/common/requests/ConsumerGroupHeartbeatRequest.java
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
  */
 package org.apache.kafka.common.requests;
 
+import org.apache.kafka.common.errors.UnsupportedVersionException;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.message.ConsumerGroupHeartbeatRequestData;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.message.ConsumerGroupHeartbeatResponseData;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.protocol.ApiKeys;
@@ -59,6 +60,11 @@ public Builder(ConsumerGroupHeartbeatRequestData data, boolean enableUnstableLas
 
         @Override
         public ConsumerGroupHeartbeatRequest build(short version) {
+            if (version == 0 && data.subscribedTopicRegex() != null) {
+                throw new UnsupportedVersionException("The cluster does not support regular expressions resolution " +
+                    "on ConsumerGroupHeartbeat API version " + version + ". It must be upgraded to use " +
+                    "ConsumerGroupHeartbeat API version >= 1 to allow to subscribe to a SubscriptionPattern.");
+            }
             return new ConsumerGroupHeartbeatRequest(data, version);
         }
 
diff --git a/clients/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/internals/AsyncKafkaConsumerTest.java b/clients/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/internals/AsyncKafkaConsumerTest.java
index a3c59956c5f43..ccb6a50892d85 100644
--- a/clients/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/internals/AsyncKafkaConsumerTest.java
+++ b/clients/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/internals/AsyncKafkaConsumerTest.java
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@
 package org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.internals;
 
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.Metadata.LeaderAndEpoch;
+import org.apache.kafka.clients.MockClient;
+import org.apache.kafka.clients.NodeApiVersions;
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.ConsumerConfig;
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.ConsumerGroupMetadata;
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.ConsumerRebalanceListener;
@@ -57,7 +59,9 @@
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.internals.events.UpdatePatternSubscriptionEvent;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.KafkaException;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.Metric;
+import org.apache.kafka.common.Node;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.TopicPartition;
+import org.apache.kafka.common.Uuid;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.config.ConfigException;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.errors.GroupAuthorizationException;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.errors.InterruptException;
@@ -66,17 +70,26 @@
 import org.apache.kafka.common.errors.RetriableException;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.errors.TimeoutException;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.errors.TopicAuthorizationException;
+import org.apache.kafka.common.errors.UnsupportedVersionException;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.errors.WakeupException;
+import org.apache.kafka.common.internals.ClusterResourceListeners;
+import org.apache.kafka.common.message.ConsumerGroupHeartbeatResponseData;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.metrics.Metrics;
+import org.apache.kafka.common.protocol.ApiKeys;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.protocol.Errors;
+import org.apache.kafka.common.requests.ConsumerGroupHeartbeatResponse;
+import org.apache.kafka.common.requests.FindCoordinatorResponse;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.requests.JoinGroupRequest;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.requests.ListOffsetsRequest;
+import org.apache.kafka.common.requests.MetadataResponse;
+import org.apache.kafka.common.requests.RequestTestUtils;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.serialization.StringDeserializer;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.utils.LogContext;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.utils.MockTime;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.utils.Time;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.utils.Timer;
 import org.apache.kafka.test.MockConsumerInterceptor;
+import org.apache.kafka.test.TestUtils;
 
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterEach;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
@@ -1878,6 +1891,66 @@ public void testSubscribeToRe2JPatternGeneratesEvent() {
         verify(applicationEventHandler).addAndGet(ArgumentMatchers.isA(TopicRe2JPatternSubscriptionChangeEvent.class));
     }
 
+    // SubscriptionPattern is supported as of ConsumerGroupHeartbeatRequest v1. Clients using subscribe
+    // (SubscribePattern) against older broker versions should get UnsupportedVersionException on poll after subscribe
+    @Test
+    public void testSubscribePatternAgainstBrokerNotSupportingRegex() throws InterruptedException {
+        final Properties props = requiredConsumerConfig();
+        props.put(ConsumerConfig.GROUP_ID_CONFIG, "group-id");
+        props.put(ConsumerConfig.ENABLE_AUTO_COMMIT_CONFIG, "false");
+
+        final ConsumerConfig config = new ConsumerConfig(props);
+
+        ConsumerMetadata metadata = new ConsumerMetadata(0, 0, Long.MAX_VALUE, false, false,
+            mock(SubscriptionState.class), new LogContext(), new ClusterResourceListeners());
+        MockClient client = new MockClient(time, metadata);
+        MetadataResponse initialMetadata = RequestTestUtils.metadataUpdateWithIds(1, Map.of("topic1", 2),
+            Map.of("topic1", Uuid.randomUuid()));
+        client.updateMetadata(initialMetadata);
+        // ConsumerGroupHeartbeat v0 does not support broker-side regex resolution
+        client.setNodeApiVersions(NodeApiVersions.create(ApiKeys.CONSUMER_GROUP_HEARTBEAT.id, (short) 0, (short) 0));
+
+        // Mock response to find coordinator
+        Node node = metadata.fetch().nodes().get(0);
+        client.prepareResponseFrom(FindCoordinatorResponse.prepareResponse(Errors.NONE, "group-id", node), node);
+
+        // Mock HB response (needed so that the MockClient builds the request)
+        ConsumerGroupHeartbeatResponse result =
+            new ConsumerGroupHeartbeatResponse(new ConsumerGroupHeartbeatResponseData()
+                .setMemberId("")
+                .setMemberEpoch(0));
+        Node coordinator = new Node(Integer.MAX_VALUE - node.id(), node.host(), node.port());
+        client.prepareResponseFrom(result, coordinator);
+
+        SubscriptionState subscriptionState = mock(SubscriptionState.class);
+
+        consumer = new AsyncKafkaConsumer<>(
+            new LogContext(),
+            time,
+            config,
+            new StringDeserializer(),
+            new StringDeserializer(),
+            client,
+            subscriptionState,
+            metadata
+        );
+        completeTopicRe2JPatternSubscriptionChangeEventSuccessfully();
+
+        SubscriptionPattern pattern = new SubscriptionPattern("t*");
+        consumer.subscribe(pattern);
+        when(subscriptionState.subscriptionPattern()).thenReturn(pattern);
+        TestUtils.waitForCondition(() -> {
+            try {
+                // The request is generated in the background thread so allow for that
+                // async operation to happen to detect the failure.
+                consumer.poll(Duration.ZERO);
+                return false;
+            } catch (UnsupportedVersionException e) {
+                return true;
+            }
+        }, "Consumer did not throw the expected UnsupportedVersionException on poll");
+    }
+
     private Map<TopicPartition, OffsetAndMetadata> mockTopicPartitionOffset() {
         final TopicPartition t0 = new TopicPartition("t0", 2);
         final TopicPartition t1 = new TopicPartition("t0", 3);
diff --git a/clients/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/internals/ConsumerHeartbeatRequestManagerTest.java b/clients/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/internals/ConsumerHeartbeatRequestManagerTest.java
index 47630c4e9d859..415a84ebbb906 100644
--- a/clients/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/internals/ConsumerHeartbeatRequestManagerTest.java
+++ b/clients/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/internals/ConsumerHeartbeatRequestManagerTest.java
@@ -602,6 +602,44 @@ public void testHeartbeatResponseOnErrorHandling(final Errors error, final boole
         }
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testUnsupportedVersion() {
+        mockErrorResponse(Errors.UNSUPPORTED_VERSION, null);
+        ArgumentCaptor<ErrorEvent> errorEventArgumentCaptor = ArgumentCaptor.forClass(ErrorEvent.class);
+        verify(backgroundEventHandler).add(errorEventArgumentCaptor.capture());
+        ErrorEvent errorEvent = errorEventArgumentCaptor.getValue();
+
+        // UnsupportedApiVersion in HB response without any custom message. It's considered as new protocol not supported.
+        String hbNotSupportedMsg = "The cluster does not support the new consumer group protocol. Set group" +
+            ".protocol=classic on the consumer configs to revert to the classic protocol until the cluster is upgraded.";
+        assertInstanceOf(Errors.UNSUPPORTED_VERSION.exception().getClass(), errorEvent.error());
+        assertEquals(hbNotSupportedMsg, errorEvent.error().getMessage());
+        clearInvocations(backgroundEventHandler);
+
+        // UnsupportedApiVersion in HB response with custom message. Specific to required version not present, should
+        // keep the custom message.
+        String hbVersionNotSupportedMsg = "The cluster does not support resolution of SubscriptionPattern on version 0. " +
+            "It must be upgraded to version >= 1 to allow to subscribe to a SubscriptionPattern.";
+        mockErrorResponse(Errors.UNSUPPORTED_VERSION, hbVersionNotSupportedMsg);
+        errorEventArgumentCaptor = ArgumentCaptor.forClass(ErrorEvent.class);
+        verify(backgroundEventHandler).add(errorEventArgumentCaptor.capture());
+        errorEvent = errorEventArgumentCaptor.getValue();
+        assertInstanceOf(Errors.UNSUPPORTED_VERSION.exception().getClass(), errorEvent.error());
+        assertEquals(hbVersionNotSupportedMsg, errorEvent.error().getMessage());
+    }
+
+    private void mockErrorResponse(Errors error, String exceptionCustomMsg) {
+        time.sleep(DEFAULT_HEARTBEAT_INTERVAL_MS);
+        NetworkClientDelegate.PollResult result = heartbeatRequestManager.poll(time.milliseconds());
+        assertEquals(1, result.unsentRequests.size());
+
+        when(subscriptions.hasAutoAssignedPartitions()).thenReturn(true);
+        ClientResponse response = createHeartbeatResponse(
+            result.unsentRequests.get(0), error, exceptionCustomMsg);
+        result.unsentRequests.get(0).handler().onComplete(response);
+        ConsumerGroupHeartbeatResponse mockResponse = (ConsumerGroupHeartbeatResponse) response.responseBody();
+    }
+
     private void assertNextHeartbeatTiming(long expectedTimeToNextHeartbeatMs) {
         long currentTimeMs = time.milliseconds();
         assertEquals(expectedTimeToNextHeartbeatMs, heartbeatRequestState.timeToNextHeartbeatMs(currentTimeMs));
@@ -969,9 +1007,15 @@ private static Collection<Arguments> errorProvider() {
             Arguments.of(Errors.GROUP_MAX_SIZE_REACHED, true));
     }
 
+    private ClientResponse createHeartbeatResponse(NetworkClientDelegate.UnsentRequest request,
+                                                   Errors error) {
+        return createHeartbeatResponse(request, error, "stubbed error message");
+    }
+
     private ClientResponse createHeartbeatResponse(
         final NetworkClientDelegate.UnsentRequest request,
-        final Errors error
+        final Errors error,
+        final String msg
     ) {
         ConsumerGroupHeartbeatResponseData data = new ConsumerGroupHeartbeatResponseData()
             .setErrorCode(error.code())
@@ -979,7 +1023,7 @@ private ClientResponse createHeartbeatResponse(
             .setMemberId(DEFAULT_MEMBER_ID)
             .setMemberEpoch(DEFAULT_MEMBER_EPOCH);
         if (error != Errors.NONE) {
-            data.setErrorMessage("stubbed error message");
+            data.setErrorMessage(msg);
         }
         ConsumerGroupHeartbeatResponse response = new ConsumerGroupHeartbeatResponse(data);
         return new ClientResponse(
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/kafka/clients/consumer/AsyncKafkaConsumerIntegrationTest.java b/core/src/test/java/kafka/clients/consumer/AsyncKafkaConsumerIntegrationTest.java
index ff851145a21ef..7e1c062c0fcf7 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/kafka/clients/consumer/AsyncKafkaConsumerIntegrationTest.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/kafka/clients/consumer/AsyncKafkaConsumerIntegrationTest.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.ConsumerConfig;
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.GroupProtocol;
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.KafkaConsumer;
+import org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.internals.AbstractHeartbeatRequestManager;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.errors.UnsupportedVersionException;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.serialization.StringDeserializer;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.test.TestUtils;
@@ -64,8 +65,7 @@ public void testAsyncConsumerWithOldGroupCoordinator(ClusterInstance clusterInst
                     consumer.poll(Duration.ofMillis(1000));
                     return false;
                 } catch (UnsupportedVersionException e) {
-                    return e.getMessage().contains("The cluster doesn't yet support the new consumer group protocol. " +
-                        "Set group.protocol=classic to revert to the classic protocol until the cluster is upgraded.");
+                    return e.getMessage().equals(AbstractHeartbeatRequestManager.CONSUMER_PROTOCOL_NOT_SUPPORTED_MSG);
                 }
             }, "Should get UnsupportedVersionException and how to revert to classic protocol");
         }