diff --git a/litellm/integrations/custom_guardrail.py b/litellm/integrations/custom_guardrail.py
index c937ad0a7bf..b59405b120d 100644
--- a/litellm/integrations/custom_guardrail.py
+++ b/litellm/integrations/custom_guardrail.py
@@ -737,18 +737,23 @@ class CustomGuardrail(CustomLogger):
         (this was logged previously as an API failure - guardrail_failed_to_respond).
 
         Guardrails signal intentional blocks by raising:
-        - HTTPException with status 400 (content policy violation)
+        - HTTPException with status 400 (content policy violation — standard, matches
+          Bedrock, OpenAI Moderations, Azure Text Moderation, and LakeraAI)
+        - HTTPException with status 403 (legacy — accepted for backward compatibility
+          with existing deployments that relied on the old content-filter behaviour
+          before v1.86; new guardrails should raise 400)
         - ModifyResponseException (passthrough mode violation)
         """
 
         if isinstance(e, ModifyResponseException):
             return True
-        if (
-            HTTPException is not None
-            and isinstance(e, HTTPException)
-            and e.status_code == 400
-        ):
-            return True
+        if HTTPException is not None and isinstance(e, HTTPException):
+            # 400 is the canonical status for an intentional content-policy block.
+            # 403 is accepted for backward compatibility: the built-in
+            # litellm_content_filter previously raised 403, and operators may have
+            # custom guardrails or error-handlers that also use 403 for blocks.
+            if e.status_code in (400, 403):
+                return True
         return False
 
     def _process_error(
diff --git a/tests/test_litellm/integrations/test_custom_guardrail.py b/tests/test_litellm/integrations/test_custom_guardrail.py
index a881044dc18..dae5d6bd519 100644
--- a/tests/test_litellm/integrations/test_custom_guardrail.py
+++ b/tests/test_litellm/integrations/test_custom_guardrail.py
@@ -1190,3 +1190,77 @@ class TestCustomGuardrailSpendLogMatchRedaction:
         slg = request_data["metadata"]["standard_logging_guardrail_information"][0]
         assert slg["guardrail_response"]["filters"][0]["regex"] == "[REDACTED]"
         assert raw["filters"][0]["regex"] == r"\d{3}-\d{2}-\d{4}"
+
+
+class TestIsGuardrailIntervention:
+    """Unit tests for CustomGuardrail._is_guardrail_intervention().
+
+    Ensures both the canonical (400) and legacy (403) status codes are
+    recognised as intentional content-policy blocks, while real server errors
+    and generic exceptions are not.
+    """
+
+    def test_http_400_is_intervention(self):
+        """HTTP 400 is the canonical status for a content-policy block."""
+        from fastapi import HTTPException
+
+        assert (
+            CustomGuardrail._is_guardrail_intervention(
+                HTTPException(status_code=400, detail="Content blocked")
+            )
+            is True
+        )
+
+    def test_http_403_is_intervention_backward_compat(self):
+        """HTTP 403 must still be treated as an intentional block.
+
+        Before v1.86, litellm_content_filter raised HTTPException(403) for all
+        content blocks.  Operators may have existing custom guardrails or error
+        handlers that also use 403.  Recognising 403 here avoids changing the
+        ``guardrail_status`` logged to Langfuse / DataDog on upgrade.
+        """
+        from fastapi import HTTPException
+
+        assert (
+            CustomGuardrail._is_guardrail_intervention(
+                HTTPException(status_code=403, detail="Content blocked (legacy)")
+            )
+            is True
+        )
+
+    def test_http_500_is_not_intervention(self):
+        """A 500 Internal Server Error is a failure, not an intentional block."""
+        from fastapi import HTTPException
+
+        assert (
+            CustomGuardrail._is_guardrail_intervention(
+                HTTPException(status_code=500, detail="Internal error")
+            )
+            is False
+        )
+
+    def test_http_404_is_not_intervention(self):
+        """A 404 Not Found is not an intentional guardrail block."""
+        from fastapi import HTTPException
+
+        assert (
+            CustomGuardrail._is_guardrail_intervention(
+                HTTPException(status_code=404, detail="Not found")
+            )
+            is False
+        )
+
+    def test_generic_exception_is_not_intervention(self):
+        """A plain ValueError is not a guardrail intervention."""
+        assert CustomGuardrail._is_guardrail_intervention(ValueError("oops")) is False
+
+    def test_modify_response_exception_is_intervention(self):
+        """ModifyResponseException always signals an intentional block (passthrough mode)."""
+        from litellm.exceptions import ModifyResponseException
+
+        e = ModifyResponseException(
+            message="Content blocked",
+            model="gpt-4",
+            request_data={"messages": []},
+        )
+        assert CustomGuardrail._is_guardrail_intervention(e) is True