diff --git a/server/src/ledgrab/api/auth.py b/server/src/ledgrab/api/auth.py
index 3d10745..e22dcb8 100644
--- a/server/src/ledgrab/api/auth.py
+++ b/server/src/ledgrab/api/auth.py
@@ -19,6 +19,19 @@ logger = get_logger(__name__)
 security = HTTPBearer(auto_error=False)
 
 
+# Exceptions that legitimately fire when we try to send / close a WebSocket
+# that is already shutting down: the peer dropped, the connect-state moved
+# under us, the underlying socket is gone, the JSON encoder choked, etc.
+# Keeping this tuple narrow means a genuine programming error (AttributeError,
+# TypeError) bubbles up to the caller instead of silently disappearing.
+_WS_SEND_BENIGN_EXC: tuple[type[BaseException], ...] = (
+    WebSocketDisconnect,
+    RuntimeError,
+    ConnectionError,
+    OSError,
+)
+
+
 def is_auth_enabled() -> bool:
     """Return True when at least one API key is configured."""
     return bool(get_config().auth.api_keys)
@@ -181,7 +194,7 @@ async def accept_and_authenticate_ws(websocket: WebSocket, timeout: float = 3.0)
         )
         try:
             await websocket.close(code=WS_ORIGIN_CLOSE_CODE)
-        except Exception:
+        except _WS_SEND_BENIGN_EXC:
             pass
         return None
 
@@ -190,7 +203,7 @@ async def accept_and_authenticate_ws(websocket: WebSocket, timeout: float = 3.0)
     if label is None:
         try:
             await websocket.close(code=WS_AUTH_CLOSE_CODE)
-        except Exception:
+        except _WS_SEND_BENIGN_EXC:
             pass
         return None
     return label
@@ -254,20 +267,29 @@ async def verify_ws_auth(
             # Loopback anonymous: no auth message arrived, but none is required.
             try:
                 await websocket.send_json({"type": "auth_ok"})
-            except Exception:
+            except _WS_SEND_BENIGN_EXC:
                 return None
             return "anonymous"
         logger.warning("WebSocket auth timeout after %.1fs from %s", timeout, client_host)
         try:
             await websocket.send_json({"type": "auth_error", "reason": "auth timeout"})
-        except Exception:
+        except _WS_SEND_BENIGN_EXC:
             pass
         return None
     except WebSocketDisconnect:
         return None
-    except Exception as exc:
+    except (RuntimeError, ConnectionError, OSError) as exc:
+        # The peer hung up mid-handshake or the underlying socket is gone.
+        # Promote anything outside this set to a hard failure with a stack
+        # trace so we can see real bugs (decode errors, type errors, …).
         logger.debug("WebSocket auth receive error: %s", exc)
         return None
+    except Exception:
+        # Unexpected — log the full traceback so we can see what we missed
+        # without leaving the connection half-open. Re-raise nothing; the
+        # caller will close on the None return.
+        logger.exception("Unexpected error during WebSocket auth handshake")
+        return None
 
     # Parse the auth message.
     try:
@@ -277,7 +299,7 @@ async def verify_ws_auth(
             await websocket.send_json(
                 {"type": "auth_error", "reason": "invalid JSON in auth message"}
             )
-        except Exception:
+        except _WS_SEND_BENIGN_EXC:
             pass
         return None
 
@@ -286,7 +308,7 @@ async def verify_ws_auth(
             await websocket.send_json(
                 {"type": "auth_error", "reason": "first message must be {type:'auth'}"}
             )
-        except Exception:
+        except _WS_SEND_BENIGN_EXC:
             pass
         return None
 
@@ -296,7 +318,7 @@ async def verify_ws_auth(
             await websocket.send_json(
                 {"type": "auth_error", "reason": "token must be a string or null"}
             )
-        except Exception:
+        except _WS_SEND_BENIGN_EXC:
             pass
         return None
 
@@ -313,7 +335,7 @@ async def verify_ws_auth(
                     "reason": "LAN access requires an API key",
                 }
             )
-        except Exception:
+        except _WS_SEND_BENIGN_EXC:
             pass
         return None
 
@@ -323,13 +345,13 @@ async def verify_ws_auth(
         logger.warning("Invalid WebSocket auth attempt from %s", client_host)
         try:
             await websocket.send_json({"type": "auth_error", "reason": "invalid token"})
-        except Exception:
+        except _WS_SEND_BENIGN_EXC:
             pass
         return None
 
     try:
         await websocket.send_json({"type": "auth_ok"})
-    except Exception:
+    except _WS_SEND_BENIGN_EXC:
         return None
     logger.debug("WebSocket authenticated as: %s", label)
     return label