BerriAI/litellm · error · ProxyException

"Authentication Error, " + str(e)

Error message

"Authentication Error, " + str(e)

What it means

The non-HTTPException branch of /user/update's error wrapper: every plain exception becomes ProxyException 'Authentication Error, <original message>' with type auth_error and code 400. Common underlying causes are ValueError 'Either user_id or user_email must be provided', Exception 'Not connected to DB!', and Prisma/database errors. The 'Authentication Error' prefix is cosmetic - the real cause follows the comma.

Source

Thrown at litellm/proxy/management_endpoints/internal_user_endpoints.py:1598

        response: Final = await _update_single_user_helper(
            user_request=data,
            user_api_key_dict=user_api_key_dict,
        )
        return response
    except Exception as e:
        verbose_proxy_logger.exception("litellm.proxy.proxy_server.user_update(): Exception occured - %s", e)
        verbose_proxy_logger.debug(traceback.format_exc())
        if isinstance(e, HTTPException):
            raise ProxyException(
                message=getattr(e, "detail", f"Authentication Error({e})"),
                type=ProxyErrorTypes.auth_error,
                param=getattr(e, "param", "None"),
                code=getattr(e, "status_code", status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST),
            )
        elif isinstance(e, ProxyException):
            raise e
        raise ProxyException(
            message="Authentication Error, " + str(e),
            type=ProxyErrorTypes.auth_error,
            param=getattr(e, "param", "None"),
            code=status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST,
        )


async def bulk_update_processed_users(
    users_to_update: list[UpdateUserRequest],
    user_api_key_dict: UserAPIKeyAuth,
    litellm_changed_by: str | None = None,
) -> BulkUpdateUserResponse:
    results: Final[list[UserUpdateResult]] = []
    successful_updates = 0
    failed_updates = 0

    # Process each user update independently
    try:

View on GitHub (pinned to 77b7c6c40c)

Solutions

1. Read the message after 'Authentication Error, ' - it names the real error (e.g. 'Not connected to DB!' or the ValueError text)
2. Fix that root cause: add user_id/user_email, configure general_settings.database_url, or repair the database
3. Check exception-level proxy logs for the full stack trace of the original exception

Example fix

# before: 400 'Authentication Error, Either user_id or user_email must be provided'
POST /user/update {"user_alias": "x"}

# after
POST /user/update {"user_id": "u1", "user_alias": "x"}  # 200

def update_payload_ok(payload: dict) -> bool:
    return bool(payload.get("user_id") or payload.get("user_email"))  # avoids the ValueError wrap

except requests.HTTPError as e:
    body = e.response.text if e.response is not None else ""
    m = "Authentication Error, "
    if e.response is not None and e.response.status_code == 400 and m in body:
        real_cause = body.split(m, 1)[1]  # e.g. 'Not connected to DB!' or the ValueError text
        # handle the real cause, not an auth problem
        ...

When it happens

Trigger: POST /user/update that hits a non-HTTP failure: body missing both user_id and user_email (ValueError), no database configured ('Not connected to DB!'), or a Prisma error during the update write.

Common situations: Developers chasing a phantom authentication problem that is actually a payload or DB config issue; CI environments without Postgres where every update fails this way.

Understand the failure class

• Authentication and authorization failures — expired tokens, bad credentials, and missing scopes.

Related errors

• f"Authentication Error({e})"
• Not connected to DB!
• User={valid_token.user_id} has been deactivated via SCIM. Ke
• Error updating key: {response_text}
• License is over limit. Please contact support@berri.ai to up

AI-assisted analysis of BerriAI/litellm@77b7c6c40c (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8761e5b0f1fc7efe. Report an issue: GitHub.