diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 1977bd1d2b..d6659399ac 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ Merged from 4.1:
 Merged from 4.0:
 Merged from 3.11:
 Merged from 3.0:
+ * Add cqlshrc.sample and credentials.sample into Debian package (CASSANDRA-18818)
 
 5.0-alpha1
  * Fix rpm installations to work with jdk17 (CASSANDRA-18817)
diff --git a/debian/cassandra.install b/debian/cassandra.install
index abba6a7843..578fd93a61 100644
--- a/debian/cassandra.install
+++ b/debian/cassandra.install
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ conf/logback.xml etc/cassandra
 conf/logback-tools.xml etc/cassandra
 conf/jvm*.options etc/cassandra
 conf/hotspot_compiler etc/cassandra
+conf/cqlshrc.sample etc/cassandra
+conf/credentials.sample etc/cassandra
 conf/triggers/* etc/cassandra/triggers
 debian/cassandra.conf etc/security/limits.d
 debian/cassandra-sysctl.conf etc/sysctl.d