diff --git a/pkg/webhook/client.go b/pkg/webhook/client.go
index cec045bd97..d79f72185f 100644
--- a/pkg/webhook/client.go
+++ b/pkg/webhook/client.go
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
+	"log/slog"
 	"net"
 	"net/http"
 	"os"
@@ -148,16 +149,32 @@ func (c *Client) doHTTPCall(ctx context.Context, body []byte) ([]byte, error) {
 
 	// 5xx errors indicate webhook operational failures.
 	if resp.StatusCode >= http.StatusInternalServerError {
+		// Body preview is logged at debug level so operators can troubleshoot,
+		// but is kept out of the returned error chain to avoid surfacing
+		// potentially sensitive bytes (e.g. from an internal service reached
+		// via a misconfigured URL) into higher-level error logs.
+		slog.Debug("webhook returned server error",
+			"webhook", c.config.Name,
+			"url", c.config.URL,
+			"status_code", resp.StatusCode,
+			"body_preview", truncateBody(respBody),
+		)
 		return nil, NewNetworkError(c.config.Name,
-			fmt.Errorf("webhook returned HTTP %d: %s", resp.StatusCode, truncateBody(respBody)))
+			fmt.Errorf("webhook returned HTTP %d", resp.StatusCode))
 	}
 
 	// Non-200 responses (excluding 5xx handled above) are treated as invalid.
 	// The StatusCode is surfaced so callers can distinguish HTTP 422 (RFC always-deny)
 	// from other non-2xx codes that may follow the failure policy.
 	if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
+		slog.Debug("webhook returned non-2xx response",
+			"webhook", c.config.Name,
+			"url", c.config.URL,
+			"status_code", resp.StatusCode,
+			"body_preview", truncateBody(respBody),
+		)
 		return nil, NewInvalidResponseError(c.config.Name,
-			fmt.Errorf("webhook returned HTTP %d: %s", resp.StatusCode, truncateBody(respBody)),
+			fmt.Errorf("webhook returned HTTP %d", resp.StatusCode),
 			resp.StatusCode)
 	}
 
diff --git a/pkg/webhook/client_test.go b/pkg/webhook/client_test.go
index 377fc6f0a8..7af2b87815 100644
--- a/pkg/webhook/client_test.go
+++ b/pkg/webhook/client_test.go
@@ -783,6 +783,69 @@ func TestDoHTTPCallReadError(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "forced read error")
 }
 
+// TestClientErrorDoesNotLeakResponseBody verifies that when the webhook returns
+// a non-2xx response, the response body bytes are not embedded in the returned
+// error chain. This prevents an SSRF-adjacent information-exfiltration path
+// where bytes from an internal service reached via a misconfigured webhook URL
+// would otherwise be surfaced into higher-level error logs.
+func TestClientErrorDoesNotLeakResponseBody(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	const sentinel = "INTERNAL_LEAK_TOKEN"
+
+	tests := []struct {
+		name       string
+		statusCode int
+	}{
+		{name: "500 Internal Server Error", statusCode: http.StatusInternalServerError},
+		{name: "503 Service Unavailable", statusCode: http.StatusServiceUnavailable},
+		{name: "422 Unprocessable Entity", statusCode: http.StatusUnprocessableEntity},
+		{name: "418 I'm a teapot", statusCode: http.StatusTeapot},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			t.Parallel()
+
+			server := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, _ *http.Request) {
+				w.WriteHeader(tt.statusCode)
+				_, _ = w.Write([]byte("response containing " + sentinel + " somewhere in the body"))
+			}))
+			defer server.Close()
+
+			cfg := Config{
+				Name:          "leak-test",
+				URL:           server.URL,
+				Timeout:       5 * time.Second,
+				FailurePolicy: FailurePolicyFail,
+			}
+
+			client := newTestClient(cfg, TypeValidating, nil)
+
+			req := &Request{
+				Version:   APIVersion,
+				UID:       "test-uid",
+				Timestamp: time.Now(),
+				Principal: &auth.PrincipalInfo{Subject: "user1"},
+				Context: &RequestContext{
+					ServerName: "test-server",
+					SourceIP:   "127.0.0.1",
+					Transport:  "sse",
+				},
+			}
+
+			_, err := client.Call(t.Context(), req)
+			require.Error(t, err)
+
+			errMsg := err.Error()
+			assert.Contains(t, errMsg, strconv.Itoa(tt.statusCode),
+				"error should surface the HTTP status code so callers can distinguish failure modes")
+			assert.NotContains(t, errMsg, sentinel,
+				"error must not embed response body bytes — they may come from an internal service reached via a misconfigured URL")
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 type mockRoundTripper struct {
 	resp *http.Response
 	err  error