diff --git a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/client/DefaultResponseErrorHandler.java b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/client/DefaultResponseErrorHandler.java
index ff72eb1e465d..5c081ec9fade 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/client/DefaultResponseErrorHandler.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/client/DefaultResponseErrorHandler.java
@@ -102,12 +102,13 @@ protected boolean hasError(int unknownStatusCode) {
 	public void handleError(ClientHttpResponse response) throws IOException {
 		HttpStatus statusCode = HttpStatus.resolve(response.getRawStatusCode());
 		if (statusCode == null) {
+			byte[] responseBody = getResponseBody(response);
 			String message = getErrorMessage(
 					response.getRawStatusCode(), response.getStatusText(),
-					getResponseBody(response), getCharset(response));
+					responseBody, getCharset(response));
 			throw new UnknownHttpStatusCodeException(message,
 					response.getRawStatusCode(), response.getStatusText(),
-					response.getHeaders(), getResponseBody(response), getCharset(response));
+					response.getHeaders(), responseBody, getCharset(response));
 		}
 		handleError(response, statusCode);
 	}
diff --git a/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/client/DefaultResponseErrorHandlerTests.java b/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/client/DefaultResponseErrorHandlerTests.java
index c5c05c48e426..1e4126f55fb5 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/client/DefaultResponseErrorHandlerTests.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/client/DefaultResponseErrorHandlerTests.java
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 
 import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
 import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThatExceptionOfType;
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.catchThrowableOfType;
 import static org.mockito.BDDMockito.given;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
 
@@ -213,6 +214,25 @@ public void bodyAvailableAfterHasErrorForUnknownStatusCode() throws Exception {
 	}
 
 
+	@Test
+	public void bodyAvailableAfterHandlingUnknownStatusClientError() throws Exception {
+		HttpHeaders headers = new HttpHeaders();
+		headers.setContentType(MediaType.TEXT_PLAIN);
+		TestByteArrayInputStream body = new TestByteArrayInputStream("Hello World".getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
+
+		given(response.getRawStatusCode()).willReturn(432);
+		given(response.getStatusText()).willReturn("Custom status code");
+		given(response.getHeaders()).willReturn(headers);
+		given(response.getBody()).willReturn(body);
+
+		UnknownHttpStatusCodeException caught = catchThrowableOfType(() -> handler.handleError(response),
+				UnknownHttpStatusCodeException.class);
+
+		assertThat(caught.getResponseBodyAsString()).isEqualTo("Hello World");
+
+	}
+
+
 	private static class TestByteArrayInputStream extends ByteArrayInputStream {
 
 		private boolean closed;