diff --git a/changelog/12903.txt b/changelog/12903.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f14762dce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/12903.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+```release-note:improvement
+db/cassandra: make the connect_timeout config option actually apply to connection timeouts, in addition to non-connection operations
+```
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/plugins/database/cassandra/connection_producer.go b/plugins/database/cassandra/connection_producer.go
index 423ca6988..db8ea4f64 100644
--- a/plugins/database/cassandra/connection_producer.go
+++ b/plugins/database/cassandra/connection_producer.go
@@ -189,6 +189,7 @@ func (c *cassandraConnectionProducer) createSession(ctx context.Context) (*gocql
 	}
 
 	clusterConfig.Timeout = c.connectTimeout
+	clusterConfig.ConnectTimeout = c.connectTimeout
 	clusterConfig.SocketKeepalive = c.socketKeepAlive
 	clusterConfig.SslOpts = c.sslOpts
 
diff --git a/website/content/api-docs/secret/databases/cassandra.mdx b/website/content/api-docs/secret/databases/cassandra.mdx
index 2bc0cb84d..482cce026 100644
--- a/website/content/api-docs/secret/databases/cassandra.mdx
+++ b/website/content/api-docs/secret/databases/cassandra.mdx
@@ -78,7 +78,8 @@ vault write database/config/cassandra-example <...other fields> pem_json=@/path/
 
 - `protocol_version` `(int: 2)` – Specifies the CQL protocol version to use.
 
-- `connect_timeout` `(string: "5s")` – Specifies the connection timeout to use.
+- `connect_timeout` `(string: "5s")` – Specifies the timeout to use, both for
+  connections and in general.
 
 - `local_datacenter` `(string: "")` – If set, enables host selection policy
   which will prioritize and use hosts which are in the local datacenter before