diff --git a/src/auth/middleware.ts b/src/auth/middleware.ts
index 7254172..f4a88d4 100644
--- a/src/auth/middleware.ts
+++ b/src/auth/middleware.ts
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ export function makeAuthMiddleware(store: Store, cfg: IrisConfig) {
     // other: a caller who presents the gate token is not thereby anybody.
     if (gate !== undefined) {
       const header = req.header("authorization") ?? "";
-      const match = header.match(/^Bearer\s+(.+)$/i);
+      const match = header.match(/^Bearer\s+(\S.*)$/i);
       // Compared after trimming, because `apiToken` trims what it read from config: a
       // configured `"  s3cret  "` must not be a gate that only an untrimmed copy opens.
       if (!match || match[1].trim() !== gate) {
diff --git a/src/routes/quality.ts b/src/routes/quality.ts
index d19642d..b95c805 100644
--- a/src/routes/quality.ts
+++ b/src/routes/quality.ts
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ function tokenMatches(presented: string, configured: string): boolean {
 // The bearer token on the request, if it presented one in the form the rest of the
 // API uses.
 function bearer(header: string | undefined): string | null {
-  const m = /^Bearer\s+(.+)$/i.exec(header ?? "");
+  const m = /^Bearer\s+(\S.*)$/i.exec(header ?? "");
   return m ? m[1].trim() : null;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/routes/sessions.ts b/src/routes/sessions.ts
index 515db69..330f671 100644
--- a/src/routes/sessions.ts
+++ b/src/routes/sessions.ts
@@ -281,7 +281,7 @@ export function sessionsRouter(cfg: IrisConfig, store: Store): Router {
   // first (free), then how many bytes of upload are already arriving, then the caller's
   // upload budget for the minute — and only then is a byte of this body read.
   r.post("/", requestSizeGate(), inFlightUploads, uploadBudget, uploadImages, async (req: AuthedRequest, res) => {
-    const files = (req.files as Express.Multer.File[] | undefined) ?? [];
+    const files = Array.isArray(req.files) ? req.files : [];
     if (files.length === 0) {
       sendError(res, 400, "invalid_request", "At least one file part named 'images' is required (image or PDF)");
       return;
diff --git a/test/quality-route.test.ts b/test/quality-route.test.ts
index 712ad31..8bb71d3 100644
--- a/test/quality-route.test.ts
+++ b/test/quality-route.test.ts
@@ -128,6 +128,18 @@ test("a missing, malformed or wrong token is rejected without touching the store
   }
 });
 
+// The padding after "Bearer" is what `\s+(\S` must allow (fetch drops the trailing padding).
+test("a whitespace-padded token opens the endpoint", async () => {
+  const { store } = fakeStore();
+  const srv = await serve(qualityRouter(store, { quality_token: TOKEN }));
+  try {
+    const res = await srv.get("", { headers: { authorization: `Bearer   ${TOKEN}  ` } });
+    assert.equal(res.status, 200);
+  } finally {
+    srv.close();
+  }
+});
+
 test("a valid token gets the tally, and the response is never shared-cached", async () => {
   const { store } = fakeStore();
   const srv = await serve(qualityRouter(store, { quality_token: TOKEN }));