From 8a6baf96e0ea36b2488faeeb5d4075bdfad37d8b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: ChrisCanin <chris@clerk.dev>
Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2025 14:42:14 -0800
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] fix(fraudProtection): Add handling for network errors in
 captcha logic

---
 packages/clerk-js/src/core/fraudProtection.ts | 8 +++++++-
 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/packages/clerk-js/src/core/fraudProtection.ts b/packages/clerk-js/src/core/fraudProtection.ts
index 6051f5d8010..8dcac4aebed 100644
--- a/packages/clerk-js/src/core/fraudProtection.ts
+++ b/packages/clerk-js/src/core/fraudProtection.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { ClerkRuntimeError, isClerkAPIResponseError } from '@clerk/shared/error';
+import { ClerkRuntimeError, isClerkAPIResponseError, isClerkRuntimeError } from '@clerk/shared/error';
 
 import { CaptchaChallenge } from '../utils/captcha/CaptchaChallenge';
 import type { Clerk } from './resources/internal';
@@ -45,6 +45,12 @@ export class FraudProtection {
         throw e;
       }
 
+      // Network errors should bypass captcha logic and be re-thrown immediately
+      // so cache fallback can be triggered
+      if (isClerkRuntimeError(e) && e.code === 'network_error') {
+        throw e;
+      }
+
       if (e.errors[0]?.code !== 'requires_captcha') {
         throw e;
       }

From c1acc3237a02ddebeaaaadefb2b9596ed31200ca Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: ChrisCanin <chris@clerk.dev>
Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2025 16:04:04 -0800
Subject: [PATCH 2/2] Unmask network errors to enable cache fallback

---
 .changeset/fix-network-error-cache-fallback.md | 5 +++++
 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 .changeset/fix-network-error-cache-fallback.md

diff --git a/.changeset/fix-network-error-cache-fallback.md b/.changeset/fix-network-error-cache-fallback.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f11efdb2ad0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/fix-network-error-cache-fallback.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@clerk/clerk-js': patch
+---
+
+Fix issue where network errors were being masked by fraud protection logic, preventing cache fallback from triggering properly.