diff --git a/changelog/fragments/1726845328-Fix-authentication-return-error-code.yaml b/changelog/fragments/1726845328-Fix-authentication-return-error-code.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..78ab16f5f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/fragments/1726845328-Fix-authentication-return-error-code.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+# Kind can be one of:
+# - breaking-change: a change to previously-documented behavior
+# - deprecation: functionality that is being removed in a later release
+# - bug-fix: fixes a problem in a previous version
+# - enhancement: extends functionality but does not break or fix existing behavior
+# - feature: new functionality
+# - known-issue: problems that we are aware of in a given version
+# - security: impacts on the security of a product or a user’s deployment.
+# - upgrade: important information for someone upgrading from a prior version
+# - other: does not fit into any of the other categories
+kind: bug-fix
+
+# Change summary; a 80ish characters long description of the change.
+summary: Fix authentication return error code
+
+# Long description; in case the summary is not enough to describe the change
+# this field accommodate a description without length limits.
+# NOTE: This field will be rendered only for breaking-change and known-issue kinds at the moment.
+description: |
+  A non-401 error code from elasticsearch will no longer result in a 401 error code being returned to the caller.
+
+# Affected component; usually one of "elastic-agent", "fleet-server", "filebeat", "metricbeat", "auditbeat", "all", etc.
+component:
+
+# PR URL; optional; the PR number that added the changeset.
+# If not present is automatically filled by the tooling finding the PR where this changelog fragment has been added.
+# NOTE: the tooling supports backports, so it's able to fill the original PR number instead of the backport PR number.
+# Please provide it if you are adding a fragment for a different PR.
+pr: https://github.com/elastic/fleet-server/pull/3935
+
+# Issue URL; optional; the GitHub issue related to this changeset (either closes or is part of).
+# If not present is automatically filled by the tooling with the issue linked to the PR number.
+issue: https://github.com/elastic/fleet-server/issues/3929
diff --git a/internal/pkg/apikey/auth.go b/internal/pkg/apikey/auth.go
index 6dbb20d2b..2c7c2d368 100644
--- a/internal/pkg/apikey/auth.go
+++ b/internal/pkg/apikey/auth.go
@@ -9,9 +9,12 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
+	"net/http"
 
 	"github.com/elastic/go-elasticsearch/v8"
 	"github.com/elastic/go-elasticsearch/v8/esapi"
+
+	"github.com/elastic/fleet-server/v7/internal/pkg/es"
 )
 
 var (
@@ -33,7 +36,7 @@ type SecurityInfo struct {
 
 // Authenticate will return the SecurityInfo associated with the APIKey (retrieved from Elasticsearch).
 // Note: Prefer the bulk wrapper on this API
-func (k APIKey) Authenticate(ctx context.Context, es *elasticsearch.Client) (*SecurityInfo, error) {
+func (k APIKey) Authenticate(ctx context.Context, client *elasticsearch.Client) (*SecurityInfo, error) {
 
 	token := fmt.Sprintf("%s%s", authPrefix, k.Token())
 
@@ -41,7 +44,7 @@ func (k APIKey) Authenticate(ctx context.Context, es *elasticsearch.Client) (*Se
 		Header: map[string][]string{AuthKey: []string{token}},
 	}
 
-	res, err := req.Do(ctx, es)
+	res, err := req.Do(ctx, client)
 
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("apikey auth request %s: %w", k.ID, err)
@@ -52,11 +55,18 @@ func (k APIKey) Authenticate(ctx context.Context, es *elasticsearch.Client) (*Se
 	}
 
 	if res.IsError() {
-		returnError := ErrUnauthorized
-		if res.StatusCode == 429 {
+		var returnError error
+		switch res.StatusCode {
+		case http.StatusUnauthorized:
+			returnError = ErrUnauthorized
+		case http.StatusTooManyRequests:
 			returnError = ErrElasticsearchAuthLimit
 		}
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("%w: %w", returnError, fmt.Errorf("apikey auth response %s: %s", k.ID, res.String()))
+		if returnError != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("%w: %w", returnError, fmt.Errorf("apikey auth response %s: %s", k.ID, res.String()))
+		}
+		// body is not parsed to not give the caller too much information
+		return nil, es.TranslateError(res.StatusCode, nil)
 	}
 
 	var info SecurityInfo
diff --git a/internal/pkg/apikey/auth_test.go b/internal/pkg/apikey/auth_test.go
index 994e5c7c9..9b58efe87 100644
--- a/internal/pkg/apikey/auth_test.go
+++ b/internal/pkg/apikey/auth_test.go
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ package apikey
 import (
 	"context"
 	"encoding/base64"
+	"fmt"
 	"net/http"
 	"testing"
 
@@ -32,15 +33,41 @@ func setup(t *testing.T, statusCode int) (context.Context, *APIKey, *elasticsear
 }
 
 func TestAuth429(t *testing.T) {
-	ctx, apiKey, mockES := setup(t, 429)
+	ctx, apiKey, mockES := setup(t, http.StatusTooManyRequests)
 	_, err := apiKey.Authenticate(ctx, mockES)
 
 	assert.Equal(t, "elasticsearch auth limit: apikey auth response  foo: [429 Too Many Requests] ", err.Error())
 }
 
 func TestAuth401(t *testing.T) {
-	ctx, apiKey, mockES := setup(t, 401)
+	ctx, apiKey, mockES := setup(t, http.StatusUnauthorized)
 	_, err := apiKey.Authenticate(ctx, mockES)
 
 	assert.Equal(t, "unauthorized: apikey auth response  foo: [401 Unauthorized] ", err.Error())
 }
+
+func TestAuthOtherErrors(t *testing.T) {
+	scenarios := []struct {
+		StatusCode int
+	}{
+		{StatusCode: http.StatusBadRequest},
+		// 401 is handled in TestAuth401
+		{StatusCode: http.StatusForbidden},
+		{StatusCode: http.StatusNotFound},
+		{StatusCode: http.StatusMethodNotAllowed},
+		{StatusCode: http.StatusConflict},
+		// 429 is handled in TestAuth429
+		{StatusCode: http.StatusInternalServerError},
+		{StatusCode: http.StatusBadGateway},
+		{StatusCode: http.StatusServiceUnavailable},
+		{StatusCode: http.StatusGatewayTimeout},
+	}
+	for _, scenario := range scenarios {
+		t.Run(fmt.Sprintf("%d", scenario.StatusCode), func(t *testing.T) {
+			ctx, apiKey, mockES := setup(t, scenario.StatusCode)
+			_, err := apiKey.Authenticate(ctx, mockES)
+
+			assert.Equal(t, fmt.Sprintf("elastic fail %d", scenario.StatusCode), err.Error())
+		})
+	}
+}