diff --git a/requirements.in b/requirements.in
index c3f9a996c..26142703f 100644
--- a/requirements.in
+++ b/requirements.in
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ Flask-Babel==3.1.0
 Flask-Cors==6.0.0
 Flask-Login==0.6.3
 Flask-RESTful==0.3.10
-Flask-HTTPAuth==4.8.0
+Flask-HTTPAuth==4.8.1
 hwi==3.1.0
 python-dotenv==1.2.2
 requests==2.33.0
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index fabdc464a..198e05128 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -267,9 +267,9 @@ flask-cors==6.0.0 \
     --hash=sha256:4592c1570246bf7beee96b74bc0adbbfcb1b0318f6ba05c412e8909eceec3393 \
     --hash=sha256:6332073356452343a8ccddbfec7befdc3fdd040141fe776ec9b94c262f058657
     # via -r requirements.in
-flask-httpauth==4.8.0 \
-    --hash=sha256:66568a05bc73942c65f1e2201ae746295816dc009edd84b482c44c758d75097a \
-    --hash=sha256:a58fedd09989b9975448eef04806b096a3964a7feeebc0a78831ff55685b62b0
+flask-httpauth==4.8.1 \
+    --hash=sha256:0080393d70e12327781f7509115175ec5e47209816489a620d4fd39e20cea2e8 \
+    --hash=sha256:88499b22f1353893743c3cd68f2ca561c4ad9ef75cd6bcc7f621161cd0e80744
     # via -r requirements.in
 flask-login==0.6.3 \
     --hash=sha256:5e23d14a607ef12806c699590b89d0f0e0d67baeec599d75947bf9c147330333 \
diff --git a/src/cryptoadvance/specter/api/security.py b/src/cryptoadvance/specter/api/security.py
index 92d297e26..42a32c4aa 100644
--- a/src/cryptoadvance/specter/api/security.py
+++ b/src/cryptoadvance/specter/api/security.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-""" Security Related things for the REST-API """
+"""Security Related things for the REST-API"""
+
 import logging, jwt
 from functools import wraps
 
@@ -14,6 +15,18 @@ from flask import current_app as app
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
+@auth.error_handler
+@token_auth.error_handler
+def auth_error(status):
+    """Return REST API authentication failures as JSON.
+
+    Flask-HTTPAuth 4.8.1 changed the default unauthorized response body to
+    plain text ("Unauthorized Access"). The REST API has historically returned
+    Flask-RESTful JSON error objects, and clients/tests rely on that shape.
+    """
+    return abort(status)
+
+
 @auth.verify_password
 def verify_password(username, password):
     """Validate user passwords and store user in the 'g' object"""