diff --git a/server/controllers/events/gitlab_request_parser_validator.go b/server/controllers/events/gitlab_request_parser_validator.go
index 2876a34b91..f18072fdf9 100644
--- a/server/controllers/events/gitlab_request_parser_validator.go
+++ b/server/controllers/events/gitlab_request_parser_validator.go
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ func (d *DefaultGitlabRequestParserValidator) ParseAndValidate(r *http.Request,
 	// Validate secret if specified.
 	headerSecret := r.Header.Get(secretHeader)
 	if len(secret) != 0 && subtle.ConstantTimeCompare(secret, []byte(headerSecret)) != 1 {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("header %s=%s did not match expected secret", secretHeader, headerSecret)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("header %s did not match expected secret", secretHeader)
 	}
 
 	// Parse request into a gitlab object based on the object type specified
diff --git a/server/controllers/events/gitlab_request_parser_validator_test.go b/server/controllers/events/gitlab_request_parser_validator_test.go
index 8f55c32c80..ee06d008ba 100644
--- a/server/controllers/events/gitlab_request_parser_validator_test.go
+++ b/server/controllers/events/gitlab_request_parser_validator_test.go
@@ -7,7 +7,9 @@ package events_test
 import (
 	"bytes"
 	"net/http"
+	"net/http/httptest"
 	"reflect"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
 	. "github.com/petergtz/pegomock/v4"
@@ -19,15 +21,24 @@ import (
 var parser = events.DefaultGitlabRequestParserValidator{}
 
 func TestValidate_InvalidSecret(t *testing.T) {
-	t.Log("If the secret header is set and doesn't match expected an error is returned")
-	RegisterMockTestingT(t)
-	buf := bytes.NewBufferString("")
-	req, err := http.NewRequest("POST", "http://localhost/event", buf)
-	Ok(t, err)
-	req.Header.Set("X-Gitlab-Token", "does-not-match")
-	_, err = parser.ParseAndValidate(req, []byte("secret"))
-	Assert(t, err != nil, "should be an error")
-	Equals(t, "header X-Gitlab-Token=does-not-match did not match expected secret", err.Error())
+	const expectedSecret = "expected-server-token"
+	for _, header := range []string{"", "rejected-client-token", expectedSecret + "-suffix"} {
+		t.Run(header, func(t *testing.T) {
+			// Authentication must reject the request before parsing its malformed body.
+			req := httptest.NewRequest(http.MethodPost, "/events", strings.NewReader("{"))
+			req.Header.Set("X-Gitlab-Token", header)
+			req.Header.Set("X-Gitlab-Event", "Merge Request Hook")
+
+			event, err := parser.ParseAndValidate(req, []byte(expectedSecret))
+
+			Equals(t, nil, event)
+			ErrEquals(t, "header X-Gitlab-Token did not match expected secret", err)
+			Assert(t, !strings.Contains(err.Error(), expectedSecret), "error contains configured token")
+			if header != "" {
+				Assert(t, !strings.Contains(err.Error(), header), "error contains supplied token")
+			}
+		})
+	}
 }
 
 func TestValidate_ValidSecret(t *testing.T) {