diff --git a/weed/s3api/auth_signature_v4.go b/weed/s3api/auth_signature_v4.go
index 5f96669554..661bd7002f 100644
--- a/weed/s3api/auth_signature_v4.go
+++ b/weed/s3api/auth_signature_v4.go
@@ -374,35 +374,29 @@ func (iam *IdentityAccessManagement) verifyV4Signature(r *http.Request, shouldCh
 	if trustedPeer {
 		forwardedPrefix = r.Header.Get("X-Forwarded-Prefix")
 	}
+	// 9. Candidate paths: the escaped path as sent, then the decoded path that
+	// an S3 client encodes once when signing; each with the forwarded prefix first.
+	signaturePaths := []string{pathForSignature}
+	if decodedPath, decodeErr := url.PathUnescape(pathForSignature); decodeErr == nil && decodedPath != pathForSignature {
+		signaturePaths = append(signaturePaths, decodedPath)
+	}
+	if forwardedPrefix != "" {
+		prefixedPaths := make([]string, 0, 2*len(signaturePaths))
+		for _, p := range signaturePaths {
+			prefixedPaths = append(prefixedPaths, buildPathWithForwardedPrefix(forwardedPrefix, p))
+		}
+		signaturePaths = append(prefixedPaths, signaturePaths...)
+	}
 	var matchedHost string
+hostCandidates:
 	for i, hostCandidate := range extractHostHeaderCandidates(r, iam.externalHost) {
 		if i > 0 && !replaceSignedHostHeader(extractedSignedHeaders, hostCandidate) {
 			break
 		}
-
-		// 9. Verify with the X-Forwarded-Prefix path first
-		if forwardedPrefix != "" {
-			cleanedPath := buildPathWithForwardedPrefix(forwardedPrefix, pathForSignature)
-			calculatedSignature, errCode = verify(cleanedPath)
-			if errCode == s3err.ErrNone {
+		for _, p := range signaturePaths {
+			if calculatedSignature, errCode = verify(p); errCode == s3err.ErrNone {
 				matchedHost = hostCandidate
-				break
-			}
-		}
-
-		// 10. Verify with the original path
-		calculatedSignature, errCode = verify(pathForSignature)
-		if errCode == s3err.ErrNone {
-			matchedHost = hostCandidate
-			break
-		}
-
-		// 11. Retry with decoded path if signature used raw path encoding
-		if decodedPath, decodeErr := url.PathUnescape(pathForSignature); decodeErr == nil && decodedPath != pathForSignature {
-			calculatedSignature, errCode = verify(decodedPath)
-			if errCode == s3err.ErrNone {
-				matchedHost = hostCandidate
-				break
+				break hostCandidates
 			}
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/weed/s3api/auth_signature_v4_test.go b/weed/s3api/auth_signature_v4_test.go
index a426357b02..e5abf46606 100644
--- a/weed/s3api/auth_signature_v4_test.go
+++ b/weed/s3api/auth_signature_v4_test.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"encoding/hex"
 	"fmt"
 	"net/http"
+	"net/url"
 	"slices"
 	"sync"
 	"testing"
@@ -735,3 +736,35 @@ func TestVerifyV4SignatureUsesOriginalRequestPath(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("signed request rejected after path rewrite: %d", errCode)
 	}
 }
+
+// TestSignatureV4WithForwardedPrefixUnicodeKey guards against a signature
+// mismatch when an object key contains non-ASCII characters and the request is
+// received through a trusted reverse proxy that strips a path prefix. The
+// client signs the single percent-encoded path including the prefix, so the
+// server must decode the forwarded (already encoded) path before re-encoding it
+// together with the prefix.
+func TestSignatureV4WithForwardedPrefixUnicodeKey(t *testing.T) {
+	iam := newTestIAMWithTrustedProxy()
+
+	bucket := "test-bucket"
+	key := "たあいまd·.jpg"
+
+	// The proxy strips the X-Forwarded-Prefix and forwards the percent-encoded
+	// object path (the server sees the encoded form, not the raw Unicode key).
+	r, err := newTestRequest("GET", "https://example.com/"+bucket+"/"+url.PathEscape(key), 0, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to create test request: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	r.Header.Set("X-Forwarded-Prefix", "/s3")
+	r.Header.Set("Host", "example.com")
+	r.RemoteAddr = "10.0.0.1:1234"
+
+	// The client signs the full URL path including the prefix, using the single
+	// percent-encoded form of the Unicode key.
+	signV4WithPath(r, "AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE", "wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY", "/s3/"+bucket+"/"+key)
+
+	if _, _, errCode := iam.doesSignatureMatch(r); errCode != s3err.ErrNone {
+		t.Fatalf("signature verification failed for unicode key behind forwarded prefix: code %d", int(errCode))
+	}
+}