diff --git a/litellm/proxy/_experimental/mcp_server/auth/user_api_key_auth_mcp.py b/litellm/proxy/_experimental/mcp_server/auth/user_api_key_auth_mcp.py
index 0e40d48efa..3a3bd4744b 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/_experimental/mcp_server/auth/user_api_key_auth_mcp.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/_experimental/mcp_server/auth/user_api_key_auth_mcp.py
@@ -142,12 +142,18 @@ class MCPRequestHandler:
                     api_key=litellm_api_key, request=request
                 )
             except (HTTPException, ProxyException) as e:
-                # HTTPException.status_code is int; ProxyException.code is normalized
-                # to str in its __init__ (proxy/_types.py).
-                status = e.status_code if isinstance(e, HTTPException) else int(e.code)
+                # HTTPException.status_code is int; ProxyException.code is
+                # normalized to str in its __init__ but can be ``"None"`` or any
+                # non-numeric string when the caller didn't supply a numeric
+                # code, so we compare against both int and str forms rather
+                # than coercing (``int("None")`` would raise ValueError and
+                # rewrite the auth error as a 500).
+                status = e.status_code if isinstance(e, HTTPException) else e.code
                 if status in (
                     401,
                     403,
+                    "401",
+                    "403",
                 ) and MCPRequestHandler._target_servers_use_oauth2(
                     path=request.url.path, mcp_servers=mcp_servers
                 ):
diff --git a/tests/test_litellm/proxy/_experimental/mcp_server/auth/test_user_api_key_auth_mcp.py b/tests/test_litellm/proxy/_experimental/mcp_server/auth/test_user_api_key_auth_mcp.py
index 2256935f35..c6dd1d83bc 100644
--- a/tests/test_litellm/proxy/_experimental/mcp_server/auth/test_user_api_key_auth_mcp.py
+++ b/tests/test_litellm/proxy/_experimental/mcp_server/auth/test_user_api_key_auth_mcp.py
@@ -1028,6 +1028,38 @@ class TestMCPOAuth2FallbackTargetGating:
                 await MCPRequestHandler.process_mcp_request(scope)
             assert exc_info.value.status_code == 401
 
+    async def test_proxy_exception_with_non_numeric_code_propagates(self):
+        """
+        ``ProxyException`` normalises ``code`` via ``str()`` in its __init__,
+        so callers may produce ``"None"`` or any non-numeric string when no
+        explicit code was supplied. The exception handler must not coerce
+        with ``int(...)`` (which would raise ``ValueError`` and rewrite the
+        auth error as an unhandled 500); it must simply re-raise.
+        """
+        from litellm.proxy._types import ProxyException
+
+        scope = {
+            "type": "http",
+            "method": "POST",
+            "path": "/mcp/atlassian_mcp",
+            "headers": [(b"authorization", b"Bearer anything")],
+        }
+
+        async def mock_user_api_key_auth_no_code(api_key, request):
+            raise ProxyException(
+                message="Authentication Error",
+                type="auth_error",
+                param="api_key",
+                code=None,
+            )
+
+        with patch(
+            "litellm.proxy._experimental.mcp_server.auth.user_api_key_auth_mcp.user_api_key_auth",
+            side_effect=mock_user_api_key_auth_no_code,
+        ):
+            with pytest.raises(ProxyException):
+                await MCPRequestHandler.process_mcp_request(scope)
+
 
 class TestMCPCustomHeaderName:
     """Test suite for custom MCP authentication header name functionality"""