diff --git a/packages/node/src/integrations/utils/http.ts b/packages/node/src/integrations/utils/http.ts
index 86902425914d..1ef1be2549b5 100644
--- a/packages/node/src/integrations/utils/http.ts
+++ b/packages/node/src/integrations/utils/http.ts
@@ -48,11 +48,17 @@ export function extractUrl(requestOptions: RequestOptions): string {
     !requestOptions.port || requestOptions.port === 80 || requestOptions.port === 443 ? '' : `:${requestOptions.port}`;
   // do not include search or hash in span descriptions, per https://develop.sentry.dev/sdk/data-handling/#structuring-data
   const path = requestOptions.pathname || '/';
-  const authority = requestOptions.auth ? `${requestOptions.auth}@` : '';
+  // always filter authority, see https://develop.sentry.dev/sdk/data-handling/#structuring-data
+  const authority = requestOptions.auth ? redactAuthority(requestOptions.auth) : '';
 
   return `${protocol}//${authority}${hostname}${port}${path}`;
 }
 
+function redactAuthority(auth: string): string {
+  const [user, password] = auth.split(':');
+  return `${user ? '[Filtered]' : ''}:${password ? '[Filtered]' : ''}@`;
+}
+
 /**
  * Handle various edge cases in the span description (for spans representing http(s) requests).
  *
@@ -123,8 +129,7 @@ export function urlToOptions(url: URL): RequestOptions {
     options.port = Number(url.port);
   }
   if (url.username || url.password) {
-    // always filter authority, see https://develop.sentry.dev/sdk/data-handling/#structuring-data
-    options.auth = '[Filtered]:[Filtered]';
+    options.auth = `${url.username}:${url.password}`;
   }
   return options;
 }
diff --git a/packages/node/test/integrations/http.test.ts b/packages/node/test/integrations/http.test.ts
index 555aad7f44b3..cf4f979d2753 100644
--- a/packages/node/test/integrations/http.test.ts
+++ b/packages/node/test/integrations/http.test.ts
@@ -215,18 +215,24 @@ describe('tracing', () => {
     expect(spans[1].data['http.fragment']).toEqual('learn-more');
   });
 
-  it('filters the authority (username and password) in span description', () => {
-    nock('http://username:password@dogs.are.great').get('/').reply(200);
+  it.each([
+    ['user:pwd', '[Filtered]:[Filtered]@'],
+    ['user:', '[Filtered]:@'],
+    ['user', '[Filtered]:@'],
+    [':pwd', ':[Filtered]@'],
+    ['', ''],
+  ])('filters the authority %s in span description', (auth, redactedAuth) => {
+    nock(`http://${auth}@dogs.are.great`).get('/').reply(200);
 
     const transaction = createTransactionOnScope();
     const spans = (transaction as unknown as Span).spanRecorder?.spans as Span[];
 
-    http.get('http://username:password@dogs.are.great/');
+    http.get(`http://${auth}@dogs.are.great/`);
 
     expect(spans.length).toEqual(2);
 
     // our span is at index 1 because the transaction itself is at index 0
-    expect(spans[1].description).toEqual('GET http://[Filtered]:[Filtered]@dogs.are.great/');
+    expect(spans[1].description).toEqual(`GET http://${redactedAuth}dogs.are.great/`);
   });
 
   describe('Tracing options', () => {