diff --git a/backend/src/main/java/org/raddatz/familienarchiv/security/AuthTokenCookieFilter.java b/backend/src/main/java/org/raddatz/familienarchiv/security/AuthTokenCookieFilter.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1ef6c593
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/src/main/java/org/raddatz/familienarchiv/security/AuthTokenCookieFilter.java
@@ -0,0 +1,109 @@
+package org.raddatz.familienarchiv.security;
+
+import jakarta.servlet.FilterChain;
+import jakarta.servlet.ServletException;
+import jakarta.servlet.http.Cookie;
+import jakarta.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
+import jakarta.servlet.http.HttpServletRequestWrapper;
+import jakarta.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
+import org.springframework.core.annotation.Order;
+import org.springframework.http.HttpHeaders;
+import org.springframework.stereotype.Component;
+import org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.net.URLDecoder;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.Enumeration;
+
+/**
+ * Promotes the {@code auth_token} cookie to an {@code Authorization} header
+ * so that browser-side requests to {@code /api/*} authenticate the same way
+ * SSR fetches do.
+ *
+ *
The SvelteKit login action stores the full HTTP Basic header value
+ * ({@code "Basic "}) in an HttpOnly cookie. SSR fetches from
+ * {@code hooks.server.ts} read the cookie and pass it explicitly as the
+ * {@code Authorization} header. In the dev environment, Vite's proxy does
+ * the same on every {@code /api/*} request (see {@code vite.config.ts}).
+ * In production, Caddy proxies {@code /api/*} straight to the backend and
+ * does NOT translate the cookie — so client-side {@code fetch} and
+ * {@code EventSource} calls reach the backend without auth, get
+ * {@code 401 WWW-Authenticate: Basic}, and the browser pops a native dialog.
+ *
+ * This filter closes that gap: if a request has an {@code auth_token}
+ * cookie but no explicit {@code Authorization} header, promote the cookie
+ * value (URL-decoded) into the header before Spring Security inspects it.
+ * Explicit {@code Authorization} headers are preserved unchanged.
+ *
+ *
See #520. Filter runs at {@code Ordered.HIGHEST_PRECEDENCE} so it
+ * mutates the request before any Spring Security filter sees it.
+ */
+@Component
+@Order(org.springframework.core.Ordered.HIGHEST_PRECEDENCE)
+public class AuthTokenCookieFilter extends OncePerRequestFilter {
+
+ static final String COOKIE_NAME = "auth_token";
+
+ @Override
+ protected void doFilterInternal(HttpServletRequest request,
+ HttpServletResponse response,
+ FilterChain chain) throws ServletException, IOException {
+ if (request.getHeader(HttpHeaders.AUTHORIZATION) != null) {
+ chain.doFilter(request, response);
+ return;
+ }
+ Cookie[] cookies = request.getCookies();
+ if (cookies == null) {
+ chain.doFilter(request, response);
+ return;
+ }
+ for (Cookie c : cookies) {
+ if (COOKIE_NAME.equals(c.getName()) && c.getValue() != null && !c.getValue().isEmpty()) {
+ String decoded = URLDecoder.decode(c.getValue(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+ chain.doFilter(new AuthHeaderRequest(request, decoded), response);
+ return;
+ }
+ }
+ chain.doFilter(request, response);
+ }
+
+ /**
+ * Adds (or overrides) the {@code Authorization} header on a wrapped request.
+ * All other headers pass through unchanged.
+ */
+ static final class AuthHeaderRequest extends HttpServletRequestWrapper {
+ private final String authorization;
+
+ AuthHeaderRequest(HttpServletRequest request, String authorization) {
+ super(request);
+ this.authorization = authorization;
+ }
+
+ @Override
+ public String getHeader(String name) {
+ if (HttpHeaders.AUTHORIZATION.equalsIgnoreCase(name)) {
+ return authorization;
+ }
+ return super.getHeader(name);
+ }
+
+ @Override
+ public Enumeration getHeaders(String name) {
+ if (HttpHeaders.AUTHORIZATION.equalsIgnoreCase(name)) {
+ return Collections.enumeration(Collections.singletonList(authorization));
+ }
+ return super.getHeaders(name);
+ }
+
+ @Override
+ public Enumeration getHeaderNames() {
+ Enumeration base = super.getHeaderNames();
+ java.util.Set names = new java.util.LinkedHashSet<>();
+ while (base.hasMoreElements()) names.add(base.nextElement());
+ names.add(HttpHeaders.AUTHORIZATION);
+ return Collections.enumeration(names);
+ }
+ }
+}
diff --git a/backend/src/test/java/org/raddatz/familienarchiv/document/ThumbnailServiceIntegrationTest.java b/backend/src/test/java/org/raddatz/familienarchiv/document/ThumbnailServiceIntegrationTest.java
index ce198a7c..cfd7f0f4 100644
--- a/backend/src/test/java/org/raddatz/familienarchiv/document/ThumbnailServiceIntegrationTest.java
+++ b/backend/src/test/java/org/raddatz/familienarchiv/document/ThumbnailServiceIntegrationTest.java
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import org.raddatz.familienarchiv.document.DocumentStatus;
import org.raddatz.familienarchiv.document.DocumentRepository;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.boot.test.context.SpringBootTest;
+import org.springframework.test.context.ActiveProfiles;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Import;
import org.springframework.test.context.DynamicPropertyRegistry;
import org.springframework.test.context.DynamicPropertySource;
@@ -41,6 +42,7 @@ import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
* test pyramid mocks at the FileService boundary.
*/
@SpringBootTest
+@ActiveProfiles("test")
@Import(PostgresContainerConfig.class)
class ThumbnailServiceIntegrationTest {
diff --git a/backend/src/test/java/org/raddatz/familienarchiv/security/AuthTokenCookieFilterTest.java b/backend/src/test/java/org/raddatz/familienarchiv/security/AuthTokenCookieFilterTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..bd301fcd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/src/test/java/org/raddatz/familienarchiv/security/AuthTokenCookieFilterTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+package org.raddatz.familienarchiv.security;
+
+import jakarta.servlet.FilterChain;
+import jakarta.servlet.http.Cookie;
+import jakarta.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
+import jakarta.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.mockito.ArgumentCaptor;
+import org.springframework.mock.web.MockHttpServletRequest;
+import org.springframework.mock.web.MockHttpServletResponse;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.times;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
+
+/**
+ * The filter must turn a browser-side {@code Cookie: auth_token=Basic%20}
+ * into {@code Authorization: Basic } (URL-decoded) so that Spring's
+ * Basic-auth filter accepts it. Skips when the request already has an explicit
+ * {@code Authorization} header, or when no {@code auth_token} cookie is present.
+ *
+ * See #520.
+ */
+class AuthTokenCookieFilterTest {
+
+ private final AuthTokenCookieFilter filter = new AuthTokenCookieFilter();
+
+ @Test
+ void promotes_url_encoded_auth_token_cookie_to_decoded_Authorization_header() throws Exception {
+ MockHttpServletRequest req = new MockHttpServletRequest();
+ req.setCookies(new Cookie("auth_token", "Basic%20YWRtaW5AZmFtaWx5YXJjaGl2ZS5sb2NhbDpzZWNyZXQ%3D"));
+ MockHttpServletResponse res = new MockHttpServletResponse();
+ FilterChain chain = mock(FilterChain.class);
+
+ filter.doFilter(req, res, chain);
+
+ ArgumentCaptor captor = ArgumentCaptor.forClass(HttpServletRequest.class);
+ verify(chain, times(1)).doFilter(captor.capture(), org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.any(HttpServletResponse.class));
+
+ HttpServletRequest forwarded = captor.getValue();
+ assertThat(forwarded.getHeader("Authorization"))
+ .as("Authorization must be URL-decoded so Spring's Basic parser sees a literal space")
+ .isEqualTo("Basic YWRtaW5AZmFtaWx5YXJjaGl2ZS5sb2NhbDpzZWNyZXQ=");
+ }
+
+ @Test
+ void preserves_explicit_Authorization_header_and_ignores_cookie() throws Exception {
+ MockHttpServletRequest req = new MockHttpServletRequest();
+ req.addHeader("Authorization", "Basic explicit-header-wins");
+ req.setCookies(new Cookie("auth_token", "Basic%20cookie-would-have-promoted"));
+ MockHttpServletResponse res = new MockHttpServletResponse();
+ FilterChain chain = mock(FilterChain.class);
+
+ filter.doFilter(req, res, chain);
+
+ ArgumentCaptor captor = ArgumentCaptor.forClass(HttpServletRequest.class);
+ verify(chain).doFilter(captor.capture(), org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.any(HttpServletResponse.class));
+ assertThat(captor.getValue().getHeader("Authorization"))
+ .isEqualTo("Basic explicit-header-wins");
+ }
+
+ @Test
+ void passes_through_when_no_cookies_at_all() throws Exception {
+ MockHttpServletRequest req = new MockHttpServletRequest();
+ MockHttpServletResponse res = new MockHttpServletResponse();
+ FilterChain chain = mock(FilterChain.class);
+
+ filter.doFilter(req, res, chain);
+
+ verify(chain).doFilter(req, res);
+ }
+
+ @Test
+ void passes_through_when_auth_token_cookie_is_absent() throws Exception {
+ MockHttpServletRequest req = new MockHttpServletRequest();
+ req.setCookies(new Cookie("some_other_cookie", "value"));
+ MockHttpServletResponse res = new MockHttpServletResponse();
+ FilterChain chain = mock(FilterChain.class);
+
+ filter.doFilter(req, res, chain);
+
+ verify(chain).doFilter(req, res);
+ }
+
+ @Test
+ void passes_through_when_auth_token_cookie_is_empty() throws Exception {
+ MockHttpServletRequest req = new MockHttpServletRequest();
+ req.setCookies(new Cookie("auth_token", ""));
+ MockHttpServletResponse res = new MockHttpServletResponse();
+ FilterChain chain = mock(FilterChain.class);
+
+ filter.doFilter(req, res, chain);
+
+ verify(chain).doFilter(req, res);
+ }
+}