diff --git a/litellm/proxy/_experimental/mcp_server/server.py b/litellm/proxy/_experimental/mcp_server/server.py
index 322666b273d..9f20ea81879 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/_experimental/mcp_server/server.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/_experimental/mcp_server/server.py
@@ -3230,6 +3230,13 @@ if MCP_AVAILABLE:
                 user_api_key_auth=user_api_key_auth,
                 client_ip=_sse_client_ip,
             )
+            # Pre-flight auth check for pass-through servers: surface upstream
+            # 401/403 as a proper challenge before the SSE session commits 200
+            # headers, so clients can refresh their OAuth token instead of
+            # being stuck with a silently empty tool list.
+            await _check_passthrough_upstream_auth(
+                scope, user_api_key_auth, mcp_servers, _sse_client_ip
+            )
             set_auth_context(
                 user_api_key_auth=user_api_key_auth,
                 mcp_auth_header=mcp_auth_header,
diff --git a/tests/mcp_tests/test_mcp_server.py b/tests/mcp_tests/test_mcp_server.py
index 409f4fad99a..1274cad66af 100644
--- a/tests/mcp_tests/test_mcp_server.py
+++ b/tests/mcp_tests/test_mcp_server.py
@@ -504,6 +504,69 @@ async def test_sse_mcp_handler_mock():
         )
 
 
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_sse_mcp_handler_propagates_passthrough_401():
+    """SSE handler must raise 401 + WWW-Authenticate when the upstream
+    pass-through probe rejects the client's bearer token, instead of letting
+    the SSE session start and silently return empty tool lists."""
+    from fastapi import HTTPException
+
+    from litellm.proxy._types import UserAPIKeyAuth
+
+    mock_scope = {
+        "type": "http",
+        "method": "GET",
+        "path": "/mcp/sse",
+        "headers": [(b"accept", b"text/event-stream")],
+        "query_string": b"",
+        "server": ("localhost", 8000),
+        "scheme": "http",
+    }
+    mock_receive = AsyncMock()
+    mock_send = AsyncMock()
+
+    mock_auth_result = (UserAPIKeyAuth(), None, None, {}, {}, [])
+
+    challenge = HTTPException(
+        status_code=401,
+        detail="Unauthorized",
+        headers={"WWW-Authenticate": "Bearer authorization_uri=https://example/"},
+    )
+
+    with (
+        patch(
+            "litellm.proxy._experimental.mcp_server.server._SESSION_MANAGERS_INITIALIZED",
+            True,
+        ),
+        patch(
+            "litellm.proxy._experimental.mcp_server.server.sse_session_manager",
+            AsyncMock(),
+        ),
+        patch(
+            "litellm.proxy._experimental.mcp_server.server.extract_mcp_auth_context",
+            new=AsyncMock(return_value=mock_auth_result),
+        ),
+        patch(
+            "litellm.proxy._experimental.mcp_server.server.set_auth_context",
+        ),
+        patch(
+            "litellm.proxy._experimental.mcp_server.server._raise_preemptive_401_for_unauthenticated_servers",
+            new=AsyncMock(),
+        ),
+        patch(
+            "litellm.proxy._experimental.mcp_server.server._check_passthrough_upstream_auth",
+            new=AsyncMock(side_effect=challenge),
+        ),
+    ):
+        from litellm.proxy._experimental.mcp_server.server import handle_sse_mcp
+
+        with pytest.raises(HTTPException) as excinfo:
+            await handle_sse_mcp(mock_scope, mock_receive, mock_send)
+
+    assert excinfo.value.status_code == 401
+    assert excinfo.value.headers and "WWW-Authenticate" in excinfo.value.headers
+
+
 def test_generate_stable_server_id():
     """
     Test the _generate_stable_server_id method to ensure hash stability across releases.