diff --git a/src/server/responses/core-combo.ts b/src/server/responses/core-combo.ts
index c96244d1718..5637a1ecd88 100644
--- a/src/server/responses/core-combo.ts
+++ b/src/server/responses/core-combo.ts
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ import {
 } from "../../combos";
 import { formatErrorResponse } from "../../bridge";
 import { SEND_BUDGET_EXHAUSTED_CODE } from "../../lib/errors";
+import { sanitizeLogMetadataString } from "../../lib/redact";
 import {
   expandPreviousResponseInput,
   previousResponseReplayFailure,
@@ -1195,8 +1196,15 @@ export async function executeComboResponses(
       }
       return lastFailure;
     }
+    // A bare status made a revoked credential read as a provider outage. Log only the parsed
+    // code and message, never the raw envelope, as one redacted, bounded line.
+    const failureReason = sanitizeLogMetadataString(
+      [failure.upstreamCode, failure.upstreamMessage].filter(Boolean).join(": ").replace(/\s+/g, " "),
+      200,
+    );
     console.warn(
-      `[combo] ${comboId}: ${targetKey(pick.target)} failed with ${failure.response.status} after ${Date.now() - started}ms`,
+      `[combo] ${comboId}: ${targetKey(pick.target)} failed with ${failure.response.status}`
+        + ` after ${Date.now() - started}ms${failureReason ? `: ${failureReason}` : ""}`,
     );
     const failureNow = Date.now();
     const attemptedTargets = pick.attempted;
diff --git a/tests/responses/responses-combo-exhausted-error.test.ts b/tests/responses/responses-combo-exhausted-error.test.ts
index c0c1410004c..8a7a1a0e8c6 100644
--- a/tests/responses/responses-combo-exhausted-error.test.ts
+++ b/tests/responses/responses-combo-exhausted-error.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, test } from "bun:test";
+import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, spyOn, test } from "bun:test";
 import { clearComboSelectionState, clearComboTargetCooldowns, coolComboTarget, snapshotComboQuotaCooldowns } from "../../src/combos";
 import { clearKeyCooldowns } from "../../src/providers/key-failover";
 import { clearCachedProviderQuotas, setCachedProviderQuotaForTests } from "../../src/providers/quota-routing-cache";
@@ -284,6 +284,35 @@ describe("combo exhaustion reports the primary's quota refusal", () => {
     expect(logCtx.attempts).toHaveLength(2);
   });
 
+  test("the hop warning names the upstream refusal on one redacted line", async () => {
+    const key = "sk-proj-" + "a1B2c3D4e5F6g7H8i9J0k1L2m3N4o5P6";
+    globalThis.fetch = (async () => Response.json(
+      { error: { code: "invalid_api_key", message: `Incorrect API key provided: ${key}.\nRotate it.` } },
+      { status: 401 },
+    )) as unknown as typeof fetch;
+    const warn = spyOn(console, "warn").mockImplementation(() => {});
+    try {
+      await loggedCombo(config, { model: "", provider: "" });
+      const line = warn.mock.calls.map(call => String(call[0])).find(text => text.includes("primary/model-primary failed with"));
+      expect(line).toMatch(/failed with 401 after \d+ms: invalid_api_key: Incorrect API key provided: .* Rotate it\.$/);
+      expect(line).not.toContain(key);
+    } finally {
+      warn.mockRestore();
+    }
+  });
+
+  test("the hop warning never logs an unparsed upstream body", async () => {
+    globalThis.fetch = (async () => new Response("upstream said: session=abc123 private detail", { status: 502 })) as unknown as typeof fetch;
+    const warn = spyOn(console, "warn").mockImplementation(() => {});
+    try {
+      await loggedCombo(config, { model: "", provider: "" });
+      const line = warn.mock.calls.map(call => String(call[0])).find(text => text.includes("primary/model-primary failed with"));
+      expect(line).toMatch(/failed with 502 after \d+ms$/);
+    } finally {
+      warn.mockRestore();
+    }
+  });
+
   test("a fallback 5xx is still the answer", async () => {
     upstream(502, "bad gateway");
     const response = await handleResponses(request(), config, { model: "", provider: "" } as RequestLogContext);