diff --git a/ddclient.in b/ddclient.in
index cc21be6..84d8e3d 100755
--- a/ddclient.in
+++ b/ddclient.in
@@ -3776,17 +3776,16 @@ sub header_ok {
     my ($host, $line) = @_;
     $line =~ s/\r?\n.*//s;
     # TODO: What is this leading /s*/?  Is it a typo of /\s*/?
-    my ($result) = ($line =~ qr%^s*HTTP/.*\s+(\d+)%i);
-    if (!defined($result)) {
+    my ($code, $msg) = ($line =~ qr%^s*HTTP/.*\s+(\d+)\s*(?:\s+([^\s].*))?$%i);
+    if (!defined($code)) {
         failed('updating %s: unexpected HTTP response: %s', $host, $line);
         return 0;
-    } elsif ($result eq '401') {
-        failed("updating %s: authentication failed (%s)", $host, $line);
-        return 0;
-    } elsif ($result eq '403') {
-        failed("updating %s: not authorized (%s)", $host, $line);
-        return 0;
-    } elsif ($result !~ qr/^2\d\d$/) {
+    } elsif ($code !~ qr/^2\d\d$/) {
+        my %msgs = (
+            '401' => 'authentication failed',
+            '403' => 'not authorized',
+        );
+        failed('updating %s: %s %s', $host, $code, $msg // $msgs{$code} // '');
         return 0;
     }
     return 1;
diff --git a/t/header_ok.pl b/t/header_ok.pl
index 5797341..197cc8d 100644
--- a/t/header_ok.pl
+++ b/t/header_ok.pl
@@ -35,14 +35,14 @@ my @test_cases = (
         want => 1,
     },
     {
-        desc => '401 not OK',
-        input => 'HTTP/1.1 401 bad',
+        desc => '401 not OK, fallback message',
+        input => 'HTTP/1.1 401 ',
         want => 0,
         wantmsg => qr/authentication failed/,
     },
     {
-        desc => '403 not OK',
-        input => 'HTTP/1.1 403 bad',
+        desc => '403 not OK, fallback message',
+        input => 'HTTP/1.1 403 ',
         want => 0,
         wantmsg => qr/not authorized/,
     },
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ my @test_cases = (
         desc => 'other 4xx not OK',
         input => 'HTTP/1.1 456 bad',
         want => 0,
+        wantmsg => qr/bad/,
     },
     {
         desc => 'only first line is logged on error',