diff --git a/cmd/metrics-v2.go b/cmd/metrics-v2.go
index b831ef09c..c5f26d66f 100644
--- a/cmd/metrics-v2.go
+++ b/cmd/metrics-v2.go
@@ -3667,8 +3667,12 @@ func (c *minioClusterCollector) Collect(out chan<- prometheus.Metric) {
 						prometheus.GaugeValue,
 						float64(v),
 						append(values, k)...)
+
 					if err != nil {
-						logger.LogOnceIf(GlobalContext, fmt.Errorf("unable to validate prometheus metric (%w) %v:%v", err, values, metric.Histogram), "cluster-metrics-histogram")
+						// Enable for debugging
+						if serverDebugLog {
+							logger.LogOnceIf(GlobalContext, fmt.Errorf("unable to validate prometheus metric (%w) %v:%v", err, values, metric.Histogram), "cluster-metrics-histogram")
+						}
 					} else {
 						out <- pmetric
 					}
@@ -3692,7 +3696,10 @@ func (c *minioClusterCollector) Collect(out chan<- prometheus.Metric) {
 				metric.Value,
 				values...)
 			if err != nil {
-				logger.LogOnceIf(GlobalContext, fmt.Errorf("unable to validate prometheus metric (%w) %v", err, values), "cluster-metrics")
+				// Enable for debugging
+				if serverDebugLog {
+					logger.LogOnceIf(GlobalContext, fmt.Errorf("unable to validate prometheus metric (%w) %v", err, values), "cluster-metrics")
+				}
 			} else {
 				out <- pmetric
 			}
@@ -3890,11 +3897,9 @@ func metricsServerHandler() http.Handler {
 		}
 
 		mfs, err := gatherers.Gather()
-		if err != nil {
-			if len(mfs) == 0 {
-				writeErrorResponseJSON(r.Context(), w, toAdminAPIErr(r.Context(), err), r.URL)
-				return
-			}
+		if err != nil && len(mfs) == 0 {
+			writeErrorResponseJSON(r.Context(), w, toAdminAPIErr(r.Context(), err), r.URL)
+			return
 		}
 
 		contentType := expfmt.Negotiate(r.Header)
diff --git a/cmd/metrics.go b/cmd/metrics.go
index 2f45d3d21..0a4d29f5b 100644
--- a/cmd/metrics.go
+++ b/cmd/metrics.go
@@ -616,7 +616,7 @@ func AuthMiddleware(h http.Handler) http.Handler {
 		tc, ok := r.Context().Value(mcontext.ContextTraceKey).(*mcontext.TraceCtxt)
 
 		claims, groups, owner, authErr := metricsRequestAuthenticate(r)
-		if authErr != nil || !claims.VerifyIssuer("prometheus", true) {
+		if authErr != nil || (claims != nil && !claims.VerifyIssuer("prometheus", true)) {
 			if ok {
 				tc.FuncName = "handler.MetricsAuth"
 				tc.ResponseRecorder.LogErrBody = true