diff --git a/ansible/inventory/group_vars/all/overcloud-dib b/ansible/inventory/group_vars/all/overcloud-dib
index e927d8cd6..e6faefcab 100644
--- a/ansible/inventory/group_vars/all/overcloud-dib
+++ b/ansible/inventory/group_vars/all/overcloud-dib
@@ -34,9 +34,10 @@ overcloud_dib_os_element: "{{ 'rocky-container' if os_distribution == 'rocky' el
 overcloud_dib_os_release: "{{ os_release }}"
 
 # List of default DIB elements. Default is ["{{ overcloud_dib_os_element }}",
-# "cloud-init-datasources", "enable-serial-console", "vm"].
+# "cloud-init", "cloud-init-datasources", "enable-serial-console", "vm"].
 overcloud_dib_elements_default:
   - "{{ overcloud_dib_os_element }}"
+  - "cloud-init"
   - "cloud-init-datasources"
   - "enable-serial-console"
   - "vm"
diff --git a/etc/kayobe/overcloud-dib.yml b/etc/kayobe/overcloud-dib.yml
index f5f935202..e3066fda6 100644
--- a/etc/kayobe/overcloud-dib.yml
+++ b/etc/kayobe/overcloud-dib.yml
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
 #overcloud_dib_os_release:
 
 # List of default DIB elements. Default is ["{{ overcloud_dib_os_element }}",
-# "cloud-init-datasources", "enable-serial-console", "vm"].
+# "cloud-init", "cloud-init-datasources", "enable-serial-console", "vm"].
 #overcloud_dib_elements_default:
 
 # List of additional DIB elements. Default is none.
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/fix-cloud-init-not-default-eb8ecbd00356467e.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/fix-cloud-init-not-default-eb8ecbd00356467e.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b314f23c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/fix-cloud-init-not-default-eb8ecbd00356467e.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+fixes:
+  - |
+    Fixes an issue where networking failed to come up after kayobe
+    ``overcloud host provision`` as cloud-init wasn't installed. Add
+    ``cloud-init`` element to ``overcloud_dib_elements_default`` so it's no
+    longer missing.
+    Expected behavior was that ``cloud-init-datasource`` had it as dependency.