diff --git a/cmd/api-errors.go b/cmd/api-errors.go
index d8a2d97a9..566fc09b7 100644
--- a/cmd/api-errors.go
+++ b/cmd/api-errors.go
@@ -1523,10 +1523,14 @@ var errorCodes = errorCodeMap{
 		Description:    "Your Host header is malformed.",
 		HTTPStatusCode: http.StatusBadRequest,
 	},
+	// The stored object cannot be served: a server-side data condition, not a
+	// successful partial read. Upstream maps it to http.StatusPartialContent
+	// (since ca6b4773e, 2017), which lets SDKs accept the XML error document
+	// as object content; SILO deliberately diverges and returns 500.
 	ErrObjectTampered: {
 		Code:           "XMinioObjectTampered",
 		Description:    errObjectTampered.Error(),
-		HTTPStatusCode: http.StatusPartialContent,
+		HTTPStatusCode: http.StatusInternalServerError,
 	},
 
 	ErrSiteReplicationInvalidRequest: {
diff --git a/cmd/object-handlers_tampered_test.go b/cmd/object-handlers_tampered_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..87fc448b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/object-handlers_tampered_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+package cmd
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"net/http"
+	"net/http/httptest"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/minio/minio/internal/auth"
+	"github.com/minio/minio/internal/crypto"
+)
+
+// tamperedObjectLayer returns a fixed error from the read paths so the handler
+// response can be tested without reproducing the storage defect that produces
+// an unreadable object. No object bytes are sent to the caller.
+type tamperedObjectLayer struct {
+	ObjectLayer
+	err error
+}
+
+func (o *tamperedObjectLayer) GetObjectNInfo(context.Context, string, string, *HTTPRangeSpec, http.Header, ObjectOptions) (*GetObjectReader, error) {
+	return nil, o.err
+}
+
+func (o *tamperedObjectLayer) GetObjectInfo(context.Context, string, string, ObjectOptions) (ObjectInfo, error) {
+	return ObjectInfo{}, o.err
+}
+
+// TestObjectTamperedGETHEADStatus asserts that an object the server cannot
+// decode is reported with a 5xx status, not a success status. Returning
+// http.StatusPartialContent here let SDKs accept the XML error document as
+// object content. See pgsty/silo#110.
+func TestObjectTamperedGETHEADStatus(t *testing.T) {
+	ExecObjectLayerAPITest(ExecObjectLayerAPITestArgs{t: t, objAPITest: func(obj ObjectLayer, instanceType, bucket string, router http.Handler, credentials auth.Credentials, t *testing.T) {
+		// An encrypted stream shorter than one complete encryption package is
+		// a real size-validation origin of errObjectTampered.
+		damaged := ObjectInfo{Size: 31, UserDefined: map[string]string{crypto.MetaAlgorithm: crypto.InsecureSealAlgorithm}}
+		_, err := damaged.DecryptedSize()
+		if err != errObjectTampered {
+			t.Fatalf("damaged-size error = %v, want errObjectTampered", err)
+		}
+		previous := newObjectLayerFn()
+		setObjectLayer(&tamperedObjectLayer{ObjectLayer: obj, err: err})
+		defer setObjectLayer(previous)
+		for _, method := range []string{http.MethodGet, http.MethodHead} {
+			req, err := newTestSignedRequestV4(method, getGetObjectURL("", bucket, "damaged-object"), 0, nil, credentials.AccessKey, credentials.SecretKey, nil)
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			rec := httptest.NewRecorder()
+			router.ServeHTTP(rec, req)
+			if method == http.MethodGet && !strings.Contains(rec.Body.String(), "<Code>XMinioObjectTampered</Code>") {
+				t.Fatalf("%s: GET did not reach the damaged-object response: %d %s", instanceType, rec.Code, rec.Body.String())
+			}
+			if method == http.MethodHead && rec.Header().Get(xMinIOErrCodeHeader) != "XMinioObjectTampered" {
+				t.Fatalf("%s: HEAD did not reach the damaged-object response: %d %v", instanceType, rec.Code, rec.Header())
+			}
+			if rec.Code != http.StatusInternalServerError {
+				t.Errorf("%s: %s of a damaged object returned HTTP %d, want %d", instanceType, method, rec.Code, http.StatusInternalServerError)
+			}
+		}
+	}})
+}