diff --git a/src/browser/tests/net/xhr.html b/src/browser/tests/net/xhr.html
index 0974098cd..edb4333e5 100644
--- a/src/browser/tests/net/xhr.html
+++ b/src/browser/tests/net/xhr.html
@@ -194,6 +194,46 @@
   }
 </script>
 
+<script id=xhr_reason_phrase type=module>
+  {
+    const state = await testing.async();
+    const req = new XMLHttpRequest();
+    req.onload = () => { state.resolve() };
+    req.open('GET', 'http://127.0.0.1:9582/xhr/reason');
+    req.send();
+
+    await state.done(() => {
+      testing.expectEqual(503, req.status);
+      testing.expectEqual('HOUSTON WE HAVE A', req.statusText);
+    });
+  }
+</script>
+
+<script id=xhr_reason_phrase_sync>
+  {
+    const req = new XMLHttpRequest();
+    req.open('GET', 'http://127.0.0.1:9582/xhr/reason', false);
+    req.send();
+    testing.expectEqual(503, req.status);
+    testing.expectEqual('HOUSTON WE HAVE A', req.statusText);
+  }
+</script>
+
+<script id=xhr_401_challenge type=module>
+  {
+    const state = await testing.async();
+    const req = new XMLHttpRequest();
+    req.onload = () => { state.resolve() };
+    req.open('GET', 'http://127.0.0.1:9582/xhr/401');
+    req.send();
+
+    await state.done(() => {
+      testing.expectEqual(401, req.status);
+      testing.expectEqual('Unauthorized', req.statusText);
+    });
+  }
+</script>
+
 <script id=xhr_abort type=module>
   {
     const state = await testing.async();
diff --git a/src/browser/webapi/net/Fetch.zig b/src/browser/webapi/net/Fetch.zig
index d7249993b..059cc48bf 100644
--- a/src/browser/webapi/net/Fetch.zig
+++ b/src/browser/webapi/net/Fetch.zig
@@ -234,7 +234,10 @@ fn httpHeaderDoneCallback(transfer: *Transfer) !Transfer.HeaderResult {
     }
 
     res._status = status;
-    res._status_text = std.http.Status.phrase(@enumFromInt(status)) orelse "";
+    res._status_text = if (transfer.statusText()) |st|
+        try arena.allocator().dupe(u8, st)
+    else
+        std.http.Status.phrase(@enumFromInt(status)) orelse "";
     res._url = try arena.dupeZ(u8, transfer.req.url);
     res._is_redirected = transfer.redirectCount().? > 0;
 
diff --git a/src/browser/webapi/net/XMLHttpRequest.zig b/src/browser/webapi/net/XMLHttpRequest.zig
index 3c13fa9c1..7d0055109 100644
--- a/src/browser/webapi/net/XMLHttpRequest.zig
+++ b/src/browser/webapi/net/XMLHttpRequest.zig
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ _async: bool = true,
 _response: ?Response = null,
 _response_data: std.ArrayList(u8) = .empty,
 _response_status: u16 = 0,
+_response_status_text: ?[]const u8 = null,
 _response_len: ?usize = 0,
 _response_url: [:0]const u8 = "",
 _override_mime: ?Mime = null,
@@ -230,6 +231,7 @@ pub fn open(self: *XMLHttpRequest, method_: []const u8, url: [:0]const u8, async
     self._response_xml = null;
     self._response_data.clearRetainingCapacity();
     self._response_status = 0;
+    self._response_status_text = null;
     self._response_len = 0;
     self._response_url = "";
     self._response_mime = null;
@@ -397,6 +399,9 @@ pub fn send(self: *XMLHttpRequest, body_: ?BodyInit, exec_: *const Execution) !v
     defer self.releaseSelfRef();
 
     self._response_status = resp.status;
+    if (resp.status_text.get()) |st| {
+        self._response_status_text = try self._arena.dupe(u8, st);
+    }
     self._response_url = self._url;
     self._response_len = resp.body.items.len;
 
@@ -510,6 +515,9 @@ pub fn getStatus(self: *const XMLHttpRequest) u16 {
 }
 
 fn getStatusText(self: *const XMLHttpRequest) []const u8 {
+    if (self._response_status_text) |st| {
+        return st;
+    }
     return std.http.Status.phrase(@enumFromInt(self._response_status)) orelse "";
 }
 
@@ -660,6 +668,9 @@ fn httpHeaderDoneCallback(transfer: *Transfer) !Transfer.HeaderResult {
     }
 
     self._response_status = transfer.responseStatus().?;
+    if (transfer.statusText()) |st| {
+        self._response_status_text = try self._arena.dupe(u8, st);
+    }
     if (transfer.getContentLength()) |cl| {
         self._response_len = cl;
     }
diff --git a/src/network/HttpClient.zig b/src/network/HttpClient.zig
index decf406a4..b329724da 100644
--- a/src/network/HttpClient.zig
+++ b/src/network/HttpClient.zig
@@ -1434,6 +1434,7 @@ const SyncContext = struct {
     } = .in_progress,
 
     status: u16 = 0,
+    status_text: http.StatusText = .{},
     body: std.ArrayList(u8),
 
     // Acquired on the first byte we have to buffer, so a bodyless response
@@ -1444,6 +1445,7 @@ const SyncContext = struct {
         const self: *SyncContext = @ptrCast(@alignCast(transfer.req.ctx));
         lp.assert(transfer.responseStatus() != null, "HttpClient.SyncRequest.headerCallback", .{ .value = transfer.responseStatus() });
         self.status = transfer.responseStatus().?;
+        self.status_text = transfer.res.status_text;
         const body_len = transfer.bodyLen();
         if (body_len > 0) {
             try self.body.ensureTotalCapacityPrecise(try self.bodyAllocator(body_len), body_len);
@@ -2112,6 +2114,7 @@ pub const Request = struct {
 const SyncResponse = struct {
     status: u16,
     body: std.ArrayList(u8),
+    status_text: http.StatusText,
 
     // Owns `body`. Null when the response had nothing to buffer. Callers that
     // keep `body` past this call take the arena instead of releasing it.
@@ -2671,6 +2674,7 @@ pub const Transfer = struct {
             .in_progress => @panic("Impossible to be in progress here."),
             .done, .shutdown => return .{
                 .status = sync_ctx.status,
+                .status_text = sync_ctx.status_text,
                 .body = sync_ctx.body,
                 .arena = sync_ctx.arena,
             },
@@ -3478,10 +3482,11 @@ pub const Transfer = struct {
 
         const url = try conn.getEffectiveUrl();
 
-        const status: u16 = if (self._auth_challenge != null)
-            407
-        else
-            try conn.getResponseCode();
+        var status = try conn.getResponseCode();
+        if (status == 0 and self._auth_challenge != null) {
+            // A proxy that refuses the CONNECT gives us no status code
+            status = try conn.getConnectCode();
+        }
 
         self.res.header = .{
             .url = url,
@@ -3831,7 +3836,14 @@ pub const Transfer = struct {
             std.debug.assert(chunk_count == 1);
         }
 
-        if (announcesBody(buffer[0..chunk_len]) == false) {
+        const line = buffer[0..chunk_len];
+        if (std.mem.startsWith(u8, line, "HTTP/")) {
+            const conn: *http.Connection = @ptrCast(@alignCast(data));
+            conn.transport.http.res.status_text = .fromStatusLine(line);
+            return chunk_len;
+        }
+
+        if (announcesBody(line) == false) {
             return chunk_len;
         }
 
@@ -4010,6 +4022,10 @@ pub const Transfer = struct {
         return rh.status;
     }
 
+    pub fn statusText(self: *const Transfer) ?[]const u8 {
+        return self.res.status_text.get();
+    }
+
     pub fn contentType(self: *Transfer) ?[]const u8 {
         if (self.res.header) |*rh| {
             return rh.contentType();
@@ -4251,6 +4267,10 @@ const ResourceTiming = struct {
 const Response = struct {
     header: ?http.ResponseHead = null,
 
+    // From the most recent status line curl reported (a CONNECT, a 1xx or
+    // an auth challenge can precede the final one).
+    status_text: http.StatusText = .{},
+
     // Full response headers, materialized into the transfer arena at
     // completion (or set directly by cache / synthetic / fulfill). Names are
     // lowercased.
diff --git a/src/network/http.zig b/src/network/http.zig
index 43ba5bef0..756280496 100644
--- a/src/network/http.zig
+++ b/src/network/http.zig
@@ -228,6 +228,32 @@ pub const AuthChallenge = struct {
     }
 };
 
+// The actual reason phrase from the server, verbatim. HTTP/2 has none, so "".
+pub const StatusText = struct {
+    pub const MAX_LEN = 128;
+
+    _len: ?u8 = null,
+    _buf: [MAX_LEN]u8 = undefined,
+
+    pub fn fromStatusLine(line: []const u8) StatusText {
+        const trimmed = std.mem.trimEnd(u8, line, "\r\n");
+        // HTTP-version SP status-code SP [ reason-phrase ]
+        const sp1 = std.mem.indexOfScalar(u8, trimmed, ' ') orelse return .{ ._len = 0 };
+        const sp2 = std.mem.indexOfScalarPos(u8, trimmed, sp1 + 1, ' ') orelse return .{ ._len = 0 };
+        const phrase = trimmed[sp2 + 1 ..];
+        const len = @min(phrase.len, MAX_LEN);
+
+        var st: StatusText = .{ ._len = @intCast(len) };
+        @memcpy(st._buf[0..len], phrase[0..len]);
+        return st;
+    }
+
+    pub fn get(self: *const StatusText) ?[]const u8 {
+        const len = self._len orelse return null;
+        return self._buf[0..len];
+    }
+};
+
 pub const ResponseHead = struct {
     // Matches Mime.parse's 255-byte cap
     pub const MAX_CONTENT_TYPE_LEN = 255;
@@ -1041,6 +1067,17 @@ test "Header.param" {
     try testing.expect((Header{ .name = "Content-Disposition", .value = "attachment; filename=\"\"" }).param("filename") == null);
 }
 
+test "StatusText.fromStatusLine" {
+    try testing.expect((StatusText{}).get() == null);
+    try testing.expectEqualSlices(u8, "OK", StatusText.fromStatusLine("HTTP/1.1 200 OK\r\n").get().?);
+    try testing.expectEqualSlices(u8, "HOUSTON WE HAVE A", StatusText.fromStatusLine("HTTP/1.1 503 HOUSTON WE HAVE A\r\n").get().?);
+    try testing.expectEqualSlices(u8, "lowercase", StatusText.fromStatusLine("HTTP/1.0 502 lowercase\r\n").get().?);
+    // curl's synthesized HTTP/2 status line has no phrase
+    try testing.expectEqualSlices(u8, "", StatusText.fromStatusLine("HTTP/2 200 \r\n").get().?);
+    try testing.expectEqualSlices(u8, "", StatusText.fromStatusLine("HTTP/1.1 200\r\n").get().?);
+    try testing.expectEqual(StatusText.MAX_LEN, StatusText.fromStatusLine("HTTP/1.1 200 " ++ "x" ** 200).get().?.len);
+}
+
 test "opensocketCallback: private IPv4 returns CURL_SOCKET_BAD" {
     testing.silenceLog(&.{.http});
 
diff --git a/src/testing.zig b/src/testing.zig
index 72619afd3..ca6f0fb9c 100644
--- a/src/testing.zig
+++ b/src/testing.zig
@@ -884,6 +884,22 @@ fn testHTTPHandler(req: *std.http.Server.Request) !void {
         return req.respond("", .{ .status = @enumFromInt(code) });
     }
 
+    if (std.mem.eql(u8, path, "/xhr/reason")) {
+        return req.respond("", .{
+            .status = .service_unavailable,
+            .reason = "HOUSTON WE HAVE A",
+        });
+    }
+
+    if (std.mem.eql(u8, path, "/xhr/401")) {
+        return req.respond("No", .{
+            .status = .unauthorized,
+            .extra_headers = &.{
+                .{ .name = "WWW-Authenticate", .value = "Basic realm=\"test\"" },
+            },
+        });
+    }
+
     if (std.mem.eql(u8, path, "/xhr/500")) {
         return req.respond("Internal Server Error", .{
             .status = .internal_server_error,