diff --git a/streams/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/streams/StreamsConfig.java b/streams/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/streams/StreamsConfig.java
index 083ca82e549d7..2672de8d47f36 100644
--- a/streams/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/streams/StreamsConfig.java
+++ b/streams/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/streams/StreamsConfig.java
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@
 import org.apache.kafka.streams.errors.ProcessingExceptionHandler;
 import org.apache.kafka.streams.errors.ProductionExceptionHandler;
 import org.apache.kafka.streams.errors.StreamsException;
+import org.apache.kafka.streams.internals.ApplicationServerConfigValidator;
 import org.apache.kafka.streams.internals.StreamsConfigUtils;
 import org.apache.kafka.streams.internals.UpgradeFromValues;
 import org.apache.kafka.streams.kstream.SessionWindowedDeserializer;
@@ -1075,6 +1076,7 @@ public class StreamsConfig extends AbstractConfig {
             .define(APPLICATION_SERVER_CONFIG,
                     Type.STRING,
                     "",
+                    new ApplicationServerConfigValidator(),
                     Importance.LOW,
                     APPLICATION_SERVER_DOC)
             .define(BUFFERED_RECORDS_PER_PARTITION_CONFIG,
diff --git a/streams/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/streams/internals/ApplicationServerConfigValidator.java b/streams/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/streams/internals/ApplicationServerConfigValidator.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..6ba884c6cfde4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/streams/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/streams/internals/ApplicationServerConfigValidator.java
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.kafka.streams.internals;
+
+import org.apache.kafka.common.config.ConfigDef;
+import org.apache.kafka.common.config.ConfigException;
+import org.apache.kafka.common.utils.Utils;
+
+
+public class ApplicationServerConfigValidator implements ConfigDef.Validator {
+
+    @Override
+    public void ensureValid(final String name, final Object value) {
+        if (!(value instanceof String)) {
+            throw new ConfigException(name + " must be a string");
+        }
+
+        final String endPoint = (String) value;
+
+        if (Utils.isBlank(endPoint)) {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        final String host = Utils.getHost(endPoint);
+        final Integer port;
+        try {
+            port = Utils.getPort(endPoint);
+        } catch (final NumberFormatException e) {
+            throw new ConfigException(name, value, "Invalid port: " + e.getMessage());
+        }
+
+        if (host == null || port == null) {
+            throw new ConfigException(
+                    name, value, String.format("Error parsing host address %s. Expected format host:port.", endPoint)
+            );
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+        return "A host:port pair, protocol://host:port, or an empty string";
+    }
+}
diff --git a/streams/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/streams/StreamsConfigTest.java b/streams/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/streams/StreamsConfigTest.java
index 34db1ccc25302..1170550b33333 100644
--- a/streams/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/streams/StreamsConfigTest.java
+++ b/streams/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/streams/StreamsConfigTest.java
@@ -249,7 +249,7 @@ public void consumerConfigMustContainStreamPartitionAssignorConfig() {
         props.put(StreamsConfig.MAX_WARMUP_REPLICAS_CONFIG, 9);
         props.put(StreamsConfig.PROBING_REBALANCE_INTERVAL_MS_CONFIG, 99_999L);
         props.put(StreamsConfig.WINDOW_STORE_CHANGE_LOG_ADDITIONAL_RETENTION_MS_CONFIG, 7L);
-        props.put(StreamsConfig.APPLICATION_SERVER_CONFIG, "dummy:host");
+        props.put(StreamsConfig.APPLICATION_SERVER_CONFIG, "dummy:8080");
         props.put(StreamsConfig.topicPrefix(TopicConfig.SEGMENT_BYTES_CONFIG), 1024 * 1024);
         final StreamsConfig streamsConfig = new StreamsConfig(props);
         final Map<String, Object> returnedProps = streamsConfig.getMainConsumerConfigs(groupId, clientId, threadIdx);
@@ -264,7 +264,7 @@ public void consumerConfigMustContainStreamPartitionAssignorConfig() {
             returnedProps.get(ConsumerConfig.PARTITION_ASSIGNMENT_STRATEGY_CONFIG)
         );
         assertEquals(7L, returnedProps.get(StreamsConfig.WINDOW_STORE_CHANGE_LOG_ADDITIONAL_RETENTION_MS_CONFIG));
-        assertEquals("dummy:host", returnedProps.get(StreamsConfig.APPLICATION_SERVER_CONFIG));
+        assertEquals("dummy:8080", returnedProps.get(StreamsConfig.APPLICATION_SERVER_CONFIG));
         assertEquals(1024 * 1024, returnedProps.get(StreamsConfig.topicPrefix(TopicConfig.SEGMENT_BYTES_CONFIG)));
     }
 
@@ -1866,6 +1866,22 @@ public void shouldLogWarningWhenProcessingExceptionHandlerIsNotEnabledOnGlobalTh
         }
     }
 
+    @ParameterizedTest
+    @ValueSource(strings = {"dummy:host", "dummy:9999999999999999999999999", "dummy", "dummy:", ":port"})
+    public void shouldThrowConfigExceptionWithInvalidApplicationServerConfigValue(final String applicationServerConfig) {
+        props.put(StreamsConfig.APPLICATION_SERVER_CONFIG, applicationServerConfig);
+        assertThrows(ConfigException.class, () -> new StreamsConfig(props));
+    }
+
+    @ParameterizedTest
+    @ValueSource(strings = {"", "127.0.0.1:8080", "localhost:8080", "[::1]:8080", "http://localhost:8080"})
+    public void shouldAcceptWithValidApplicationServerConfigValue(final String applicationServerConfigValue) {
+        props.put(StreamsConfig.APPLICATION_SERVER_CONFIG, applicationServerConfigValue);
+        final StreamsConfig streamsConfig = new StreamsConfig(props);
+        final Map<String, Object> returnedProps = streamsConfig.getMainConsumerConfigs(groupId, clientId, threadIdx);
+        assertEquals(applicationServerConfigValue, returnedProps.get(StreamsConfig.APPLICATION_SERVER_CONFIG));
+    }
+
     @SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
     @Test
     public void shouldNotLogWarningWhenProcessingExceptionHandlerIsEnabledOnGlobalThread() {