diff --git a/proxmox-rest-server/src/rest.rs b/proxmox-rest-server/src/rest.rs
index 3e10a3a7..39f98e55 100644
--- a/proxmox-rest-server/src/rest.rs
+++ b/proxmox-rest-server/src/rest.rs
@@ -996,7 +996,7 @@ impl Formatted {
                     // always delay unauthorized calls by 3 seconds (from start of request)
                     let err = http_err!(UNAUTHORIZED, "authentication failed - {}", err);
                     tokio::time::sleep_until(Instant::from_std(delay_unauth_time())).await;
-                    return Ok(formatter.format_error(err));
+                    return Err(err);
                 }
             }
         }