diff --git a/frontend/src/routes/login/+page.server.ts b/frontend/src/routes/login/+page.server.ts
index 50aabec5..3f00a76e 100644
--- a/frontend/src/routes/login/+page.server.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/routes/login/+page.server.ts
@@ -1,12 +1,29 @@
 import { fail, redirect, type Actions } from '@sveltejs/kit';
 import { env } from '$env/dynamic/private';
-import { getErrorMessage } from '$lib/shared/errors';
+import { getErrorMessage, type ErrorCode } from '$lib/shared/errors';
 import type { PageServerLoad } from './$types';
 
 export const load: PageServerLoad = ({ url }) => {
-	return { registered: url.searchParams.get('registered') === '1' };
+	return {
+		registered: url.searchParams.get('registered') === '1',
+		reason: url.searchParams.get('reason')
+	};
 };
 
+/**
+ * Extracts the fa_session cookie value from a Set-Cookie response header.
+ * The backend may emit attributes like `Path`, `HttpOnly`, `SameSite=Strict`, `Max-Age`, `Secure`;
+ * we only forward the opaque session id — the SvelteKit cookies API will rewrite
+ * the attributes itself.
+ */
+function extractFaSessionId(setCookieHeaders: string[]): string | null {
+	for (const header of setCookieHeaders) {
+		const match = header.match(/^fa_session=([^;]+)/);
+		if (match) return match[1];
+	}
+	return null;
+}
+
 export const actions = {
 	login: async ({ request, cookies, fetch, url }) => {
 		const data = await request.formData();
@@ -17,44 +34,60 @@ export const actions = {
 			return fail(400, { error: getErrorMessage('MISSING_CREDENTIALS') });
 		}
 
-		const credentials = btoa(`${email}:${password}`);
-		const authHeader = `Basic ${credentials}`;
-
-		// Raw fetch is intentional here: we need to pass an explicit Authorization
-		// header built from the form data, not the cookie-based auth used elsewhere.
+		const baseUrl = env.API_INTERNAL_URL || 'http://localhost:8080';
+		let response: Response;
 		try {
-			const baseUrl = env.API_INTERNAL_URL || 'http://localhost:8080';
-			const response = await fetch(`${baseUrl}/api/users/me`, {
-				method: 'GET',
-				headers: { Authorization: authHeader }
-			});
-
-			if (response.status === 401 || response.status === 403) {
-				return fail(401, { error: getErrorMessage('UNAUTHORIZED') });
-			}
-
-			if (!response.ok) {
-				return fail(500, { error: getErrorMessage('INTERNAL_ERROR') });
-			}
-
-			// The cookie IS the API credential — promoted to `Authorization: Basic …`
-			// on every browser → backend request by AuthTokenCookieFilter on the
-			// Spring side (see #520). It must be Secure on HTTPS or it leaks
-			// a 24h Basic token on plaintext networks. Dev runs over HTTP and
-			// would silently lose the cookie if we hardcoded secure=true.
-			const isHttps = url.protocol === 'https:';
-			cookies.set('auth_token', authHeader, {
-				path: '/',
-				httpOnly: true,
-				sameSite: 'strict',
-				secure: isHttps,
-				maxAge: 60 * 60 * 24
+			response = await fetch(`${baseUrl}/api/auth/login`, {
+				method: 'POST',
+				headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
+				body: JSON.stringify({ email, password })
 			});
 		} catch (e) {
-			console.error(e);
+			console.error('Login request failed', e);
 			return fail(500, { error: getErrorMessage('INTERNAL_ERROR') });
 		}
 
+		if (response.status === 401) {
+			let code: ErrorCode = 'INVALID_CREDENTIALS';
+			try {
+				const body = (await response.json()) as { code?: string };
+				if (body?.code) code = body.code as ErrorCode;
+			} catch {
+				// Body not JSON — fall through to INVALID_CREDENTIALS
+			}
+			return fail(401, { error: getErrorMessage(code) });
+		}
+
+		if (!response.ok) {
+			return fail(response.status, { error: getErrorMessage('INTERNAL_ERROR') });
+		}
+
+		// Extract fa_session id from the Set-Cookie header and re-emit to the browser.
+		// Modern Node/Undici exposes getSetCookie(); fall back to a single header for older runtimes.
+		const setCookieHeaders =
+			typeof response.headers.getSetCookie === 'function'
+				? response.headers.getSetCookie()
+				: response.headers.get('set-cookie')
+					? [response.headers.get('set-cookie')!]
+					: [];
+		const sessionId = extractFaSessionId(setCookieHeaders);
+		if (!sessionId) {
+			console.error('Backend returned 200 OK on login but no fa_session cookie');
+			return fail(500, { error: getErrorMessage('INTERNAL_ERROR') });
+		}
+
+		const isHttps = url.protocol === 'https:';
+		cookies.set('fa_session', sessionId, {
+			path: '/',
+			httpOnly: true,
+			sameSite: 'strict',
+			secure: isHttps,
+			maxAge: 60 * 60 * 8 // 8h — must match backend spring.session.timeout
+		});
+
+		// Best-effort cleanup of the legacy Basic-auth cookie from older deployments.
+		cookies.delete('auth_token', { path: '/' });
+
 		return redirect(303, '/');
 	}
 } satisfies Actions;