diff --git a/nextcloud_mcp_server/client/__init__.py b/nextcloud_mcp_server/client/__init__.py
index 41f4c974..c25df187 100644
--- a/nextcloud_mcp_server/client/__init__.py
+++ b/nextcloud_mcp_server/client/__init__.py
@@ -218,6 +218,15 @@ class NextcloudClient:
         # ``ocs``/``data`` (``{"ocs": null}``) coerces to empty instead of
         # raising AttributeError on ``None.get``.
         ocs = data.get("ocs") or {}
+        # A 200 carrying ``meta.status != "ok"`` is an OCS-level failure (auth /
+        # permission edge cases) that ``raise_for_status`` can't see. Raise so
+        # the scanner's ``_get_enabled_apps_or_none`` catches it and falls back
+        # to scanning every app, rather than silently gating all apps off for a
+        # cycle on an empty ``data``. Tolerate a missing/empty meta (our own
+        # mocks, and any envelope that omits it).
+        status = (ocs.get("meta") or {}).get("status")
+        if status not in ("ok", None, ""):
+            raise ValueError(f"OCS navigation returned status={status!r}")
         entries = ocs.get("data") or []
         enabled: set[str] = set()
         for entry in entries:
diff --git a/tests/unit/client/test_nextcloud_client.py b/tests/unit/client/test_nextcloud_client.py
index 58f9eaf4..e437a43b 100644
--- a/tests/unit/client/test_nextcloud_client.py
+++ b/tests/unit/client/test_nextcloud_client.py
@@ -97,8 +97,10 @@ class TestGetEnabledApps:
     @pytest.mark.parametrize("body", [{}, {"ocs": None}, {"ocs": {"data": None}}])
     async def test_malformed_envelope_returns_empty_set(self, body):
         """A missing/null ``ocs``/``data`` envelope yields an empty set rather
-        than raising — the scanner then gates every app off, and its own
-        fallback (``_get_enabled_apps_or_none``) keeps indexing safe."""
+        than raising. NOTE: an empty set does NOT trigger the
+        ``_get_enabled_apps_or_none`` scan-all fallback (that fires only on
+        exceptions) — all optional apps are gated off for this scan cycle, with
+        Files unaffected (unconditional) and the next cycle retrying normally."""
         client = _make_client()
         response = MagicMock()
         response.raise_for_status = MagicMock()
@@ -108,6 +110,23 @@ class TestGetEnabledApps:
 
         assert await client.get_enabled_apps() == set()
 
+    async def test_ocs_failure_status_raises(self):
+        """A 200 with ``ocs.meta.status == "failure"`` raises so the scanner's
+        ``_get_enabled_apps_or_none`` falls back to scanning all apps, instead
+        of silently gating every app off on the empty ``data`` of a failure
+        envelope."""
+        client = _make_client()
+        response = MagicMock()
+        response.raise_for_status = MagicMock()
+        response.json.return_value = {
+            "ocs": {"meta": {"status": "failure", "statuscode": 997}, "data": None}
+        }
+        client._client = AsyncMock()
+        client._client.get = AsyncMock(return_value=response)
+
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="failure"):
+            await client.get_enabled_apps()
+
 
 class TestNormaliseSearchResult:
     def test_adds_leading_slash_to_path(self):