diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index e6b7740e50d..663a847da3b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 - [#9327](https://github.com/influxdata/influxdb/pull/9327): wal: update lastWriteTime behavior
 - [#9290](https://github.com/influxdata/influxdb/issues/9290): Fix regression to allow binary operations on literals.
 - [#9342](https://github.com/influxdata/influxdb/pull/9342): Fix data races in tcp.Mux and tcp.listener
+- [#9353](https://github.com/influxdata/influxdb/pull/9353): Fix panic in msgpack httpd WriteResponse error handler.
 
 ## v1.4.3 [unreleased]
 
diff --git a/services/httpd/response_writer.go b/services/httpd/response_writer.go
index 4e6239df8eb..b8f1caf2a35 100644
--- a/services/httpd/response_writer.go
+++ b/services/httpd/response_writer.go
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ func (f *msgpackFormatter) WriteResponse(resp Response) (n int, err error) {
 	enc.WriteMapHeader(1)
 	if resp.Err != nil {
 		enc.WriteString("error")
-		enc.WriteString(err.Error())
+		enc.WriteString(resp.Err.Error())
 		return 0, nil
 	} else {
 		enc.WriteString("results")
diff --git a/services/httpd/response_writer_test.go b/services/httpd/response_writer_test.go
index 08b262a9145..a2b07aa671f 100644
--- a/services/httpd/response_writer_test.go
+++ b/services/httpd/response_writer_test.go
@@ -129,3 +129,28 @@ func TestResponseWriter_MessagePack(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected output: %s != %s", have, want)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestResponseWriter_MessagePack_Error(t *testing.T) {
+	header := make(http.Header)
+	header.Set("Accept", "application/x-msgpack")
+	r := &http.Request{
+		Header: header,
+		URL:    &url.URL{},
+	}
+	w := httptest.NewRecorder()
+
+	writer := httpd.NewResponseWriter(w, r)
+	writer.WriteResponse(httpd.Response{
+		Err: fmt.Errorf("test error"),
+	})
+
+	reader := msgp.NewReader(w.Body)
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+	if _, err := reader.WriteToJSON(&buf); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %s", err)
+	}
+	want := fmt.Sprintf(`{"error":"test error"}`)
+	if have := strings.TrimSpace(buf.String()); have != want {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected output: %s != %s", have, want)
+	}
+}