diff --git a/java/src/org/openqa/selenium/grid/node/ForwardWebDriverCommand.java b/java/src/org/openqa/selenium/grid/node/ForwardWebDriverCommand.java
index 4c8a03796c7db..fadcfff4c80fd 100644
--- a/java/src/org/openqa/selenium/grid/node/ForwardWebDriverCommand.java
+++ b/java/src/org/openqa/selenium/grid/node/ForwardWebDriverCommand.java
@@ -17,9 +17,11 @@
 
 package org.openqa.selenium.grid.node;
 
+import static java.net.HttpURLConnection.HTTP_INTERNAL_ERROR;
 import static org.openqa.selenium.remote.HttpSessionId.getSessionId;
+import static org.openqa.selenium.remote.http.Contents.asJson;
 
-import org.openqa.selenium.NoSuchSessionException;
+import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
 import org.openqa.selenium.internal.Require;
 import org.openqa.selenium.remote.SessionId;
 import org.openqa.selenium.remote.http.HttpHandler;
@@ -45,6 +47,11 @@ public HttpResponse execute(HttpRequest req) {
     if (matches(req)) {
       return node.executeWebDriverCommand(req);
     }
-    throw new NoSuchSessionException(String.format("Session not found in node %s", node.getId()));
+    return new HttpResponse()
+        .setStatus(HTTP_INTERNAL_ERROR)
+        .setContent(
+            asJson(
+                ImmutableMap.of(
+                    "error", String.format("Session not found in node %s", node.getId()))));
   }
 }
diff --git a/java/test/org/openqa/selenium/grid/node/ForwardWebDriverCommandTest.java b/java/test/org/openqa/selenium/grid/node/ForwardWebDriverCommandTest.java
index 721db0b32c7d2..8f0df29251870 100644
--- a/java/test/org/openqa/selenium/grid/node/ForwardWebDriverCommandTest.java
+++ b/java/test/org/openqa/selenium/grid/node/ForwardWebDriverCommandTest.java
@@ -17,15 +17,15 @@
 
 package org.openqa.selenium.grid.node;
 
+import static java.net.HttpURLConnection.HTTP_INTERNAL_ERROR;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
-import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertThrows;
-import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.*;
+import static org.openqa.selenium.remote.http.Contents.asJson;
 
+import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
 import java.util.UUID;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
-import org.openqa.selenium.NoSuchSessionException;
 import org.openqa.selenium.grid.data.NodeId;
 import org.openqa.selenium.remote.SessionId;
 import org.openqa.selenium.remote.http.HttpRequest;
@@ -66,11 +66,15 @@ void testExecuteWithInvalidSessionOwner() {
     SessionId sessionId = new SessionId("5678");
     when(mockNode.isSessionOwner(sessionId)).thenReturn(false);
 
-    NoSuchSessionException exception =
-        assertThrows(NoSuchSessionException.class, () -> command.execute(mockRequest));
-    assertTrue(
-        exception
-            .getMessage()
-            .startsWith(String.format("Session not found in node %s", mockNode.getId())));
+    HttpResponse actualResponse = command.execute(mockRequest);
+    HttpResponse expectResponse =
+        new HttpResponse()
+            .setStatus(HTTP_INTERNAL_ERROR)
+            .setContent(
+                asJson(
+                    ImmutableMap.of(
+                        "error", String.format("Session not found in node %s", mockNode.getId()))));
+    assertEquals(expectResponse.getStatus(), actualResponse.getStatus());
+    assertEquals(expectResponse.getContentEncoding(), actualResponse.getContentEncoding());
   }
 }