diff --git a/shell/browser/api/atom_api_url_request.cc b/shell/browser/api/atom_api_url_request.cc
index 6c5b6d191b57..a50f6968bd1f 100644
--- a/shell/browser/api/atom_api_url_request.cc
+++ b/shell/browser/api/atom_api_url_request.cc
@@ -286,6 +286,8 @@ bool URLRequest::Write(v8::Local<v8::Value> data, bool is_last) {
     network::ResourceRequest* request_ref = request_.get();
     loader_ = network::SimpleURLLoader::Create(std::move(request_),
                                                kTrafficAnnotation);
+
+    loader_->SetAllowHttpErrorResults(true);
     loader_->SetOnResponseStartedCallback(
         base::Bind(&URLRequest::OnResponseStarted, weak_factory_.GetWeakPtr()));
     loader_->SetOnRedirectCallback(
diff --git a/spec-main/api-net-spec.ts b/spec-main/api-net-spec.ts
index 664effcf2ad6..32ea06dc5906 100644
--- a/spec-main/api-net-spec.ts
+++ b/spec-main/api-net-spec.ts
@@ -219,26 +219,31 @@ describe('net module', () => {
       expect(loginAuthInfo.scheme).to.equal('basic')
     })
 
-    it('should produce an error on the response object when cancelling authentication', async () => {
+    it('should response when cancelling authentication', async () => {
       const serverUrl = await respondOnce.toSingleURL((request, response) => {
         if (!request.headers.authorization) {
-          return response.writeHead(401, { 'WWW-Authenticate': 'Basic realm="Foo"' }).end()
+          response.writeHead(401, { 'WWW-Authenticate': 'Basic realm="Foo"' })
+          response.end('unauthenticated')
+        } else {
+          response.writeHead(200).end('ok')
         }
-        response.writeHead(200).end('ok')
       })
-      await expect(new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+      expect(await new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
         const request = net.request({ method: 'GET', url: serverUrl })
         request.on('response', (response) => {
+          let data = ''
           response.on('error', reject)
-          response.on('data', () => {})
-          response.on('end', () => resolve())
+          response.on('data', (chunk) => {
+            data += chunk
+          })
+          response.on('end', () => resolve(data))
         })
         request.on('login', (authInfo, cb) => {
           cb()
         })
         request.on('error', reject)
         request.end()
-      })).to.eventually.be.rejectedWith('net::ERR_HTTP_RESPONSE_CODE_FAILURE')
+      })).to.equal('unauthenticated')
     })
 
     it('should share credentials with WebContents', async () => {
@@ -717,6 +722,53 @@ describe('net module', () => {
       expect(abortsEmitted).to.equal(1, 'request should emit exactly 1 "abort" event')
     })
 
+    it('should allow to read response body from non-2xx response', async () => {
+      const bodyData = randomString(kOneKiloByte)
+      const serverUrl = await respondOnce.toSingleURL((request, response) => {
+        response.statusCode = 404
+        response.end(bodyData)
+      })
+
+      let requestResponseEventEmitted = false
+      let responseDataEventEmitted = false
+
+      const urlRequest = net.request(serverUrl)
+      const eventHandlers = Promise.all([
+        emittedOnce(urlRequest, 'response')
+          .then(async (params: any[]) => {
+            const response: Electron.IncomingMessage = params[0]
+            requestResponseEventEmitted = true
+            const statusCode = response.statusCode
+            expect(statusCode).to.equal(404)
+            const buffers: Buffer[] = []
+            response.on('data', (chunk) => {
+              buffers.push(chunk)
+              responseDataEventEmitted = true
+            })
+            await new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+              response.on('error', () => {
+                reject(new Error('error emitted'))
+              })
+              emittedOnce(response, 'end')
+                .then(() => {
+                  const receivedBodyData = Buffer.concat(buffers)
+                  expect(receivedBodyData.toString()).to.equal(bodyData)
+                })
+                .then(resolve)
+                .catch(reject)
+            })
+          }),
+        emittedOnce(urlRequest, 'close')
+      ])
+
+      urlRequest.end()
+
+      await eventHandlers
+
+      expect(requestResponseEventEmitted).to.equal(true)
+      expect(responseDataEventEmitted).to.equal(true)
+    })
+
     describe('webRequest', () => {
       afterEach(() => {
         session.defaultSession.webRequest.onBeforeRequest(null)
diff --git a/spec-main/api-session-spec.ts b/spec-main/api-session-spec.ts
index 899b158f80c0..9692def29a19 100644
--- a/spec-main/api-session-spec.ts
+++ b/spec-main/api-session-spec.ts
@@ -511,12 +511,19 @@ describe('session module', () => {
       const fetch = (url: string) => new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
         const request = net.request({ url, session: ses })
         request.on('response', (response) => {
-          let data = ''
+          let data: string | null = null
           response.on('data', (chunk) => {
+            if (!data) {
+              data = ''
+            }
             data += chunk
           })
           response.on('end', () => {
-            resolve(data)
+            if (!data) {
+              reject(new Error('Empty response'))
+            } else {
+              resolve(data)
+            }
           })
           response.on('error', (error: any) => { reject(new Error(error)) })
         })