diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/proxy/upgradeaware.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/proxy/upgradeaware.go
index 596b1888975c..2cabb894c1af 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/proxy/upgradeaware.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/proxy/upgradeaware.go
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ limitations under the License.
 package proxy
 
 import (
+	"bufio"
 	"bytes"
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
@@ -271,6 +272,18 @@ func (h *UpgradeAwareHandler) tryUpgrade(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Reques
 	}
 	defer backendConn.Close()
 
+	// determine the http response code from the backend by reading from rawResponse+backendConn
+	rawResponseCode, headerBytes, err := getResponseCode(io.MultiReader(bytes.NewReader(rawResponse), backendConn))
+	if err != nil {
+		klog.V(6).Infof("Proxy connection error: %v", err)
+		h.Responder.Error(w, req, err)
+		return true
+	}
+	if len(headerBytes) > len(rawResponse) {
+		// we read beyond the bytes stored in rawResponse, update rawResponse to the full set of bytes read from the backend
+		rawResponse = headerBytes
+	}
+
 	// Once the connection is hijacked, the ErrorResponder will no longer work, so
 	// hijacking should be the last step in the upgrade.
 	requestHijacker, ok := w.(http.Hijacker)
@@ -295,6 +308,17 @@ func (h *UpgradeAwareHandler) tryUpgrade(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Reques
 		}
 	}
 
+	if rawResponseCode != http.StatusSwitchingProtocols {
+		// If the backend did not upgrade the request, finish echoing the response from the backend to the client and return, closing the connection.
+		klog.V(6).Infof("Proxy upgrade error, status code %d", rawResponseCode)
+		_, err := io.Copy(requestHijackedConn, backendConn)
+		if err != nil && !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "use of closed network connection") {
+			klog.Errorf("Error proxying data from backend to client: %v", err)
+		}
+		// Indicate we handled the request
+		return true
+	}
+
 	// Proxy the connection. This is bidirectional, so we need a goroutine
 	// to copy in each direction. Once one side of the connection exits, we
 	// exit the function which performs cleanup and in the process closes
@@ -356,6 +380,19 @@ func (h *UpgradeAwareHandler) DialForUpgrade(req *http.Request) (net.Conn, error
 	return dial(updatedReq, h.UpgradeTransport)
 }
 
+// getResponseCode reads a http response from the given reader, returns the status code,
+// the bytes read from the reader, and any error encountered
+func getResponseCode(r io.Reader) (int, []byte, error) {
+	rawResponse := bytes.NewBuffer(make([]byte, 0, 256))
+	// Save the bytes read while reading the response headers into the rawResponse buffer
+	resp, err := http.ReadResponse(bufio.NewReader(io.TeeReader(r, rawResponse)), nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, nil, err
+	}
+	// return the http status code and the raw bytes consumed from the reader in the process
+	return resp.StatusCode, rawResponse.Bytes(), nil
+}
+
 // dial dials the backend at req.URL and writes req to it.
 func dial(req *http.Request, transport http.RoundTripper) (net.Conn, error) {
 	conn, err := DialURL(req.Context(), req.URL, transport)