diff --git a/panel/auth.py b/panel/auth.py
index 04e009dd87..1f304643de 100644
--- a/panel/auth.py
+++ b/panel/auth.py
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ def decode_response_body(response):
         body = codecs.decode(response.body, 'ascii')
     except Exception:
         body = codecs.decode(response.body, 'utf-8')
+    body = re.sub("\'", '\\"', body)
     body = re.sub('"', '\"', body)
     body = re.sub("'", '"', body)
     body = json.loads(body)
@@ -450,10 +451,17 @@ def _raise_error(self, response, body=None, status=400):
             log.warning(f"{provider} OAuth provider failed to fully "
                         f"authenticate returning the following response:"
                         f"{body}.")
+        if hasattr(body, "get"):
+            log_message = body.get('error_description', str(body))
+            reason = body.get('error', 'Unknown error')
+        else:
+            log_message = str(response)
+            reason = 'Unknown Error'
+
         raise HTTPError(
             status,
-            body.get('error_description', str(body)),
-            reason=body.get('error', 'Unknown error')
+            log_message=log_message,
+            reason=reason
         )
 
     def write_error(self, status_code, **kwargs):
diff --git a/panel/command/__init__.py b/panel/command/__init__.py
index 7efd416cbf..595d66a530 100644
--- a/panel/command/__init__.py
+++ b/panel/command/__init__.py
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ def main(args: list[str] | None = None):
             try:
                 ret = parsed_args.invoke(parsed_args)
             except Exception as e:
-                if config.dev:
+                if config.autoreload:
                     raise e
                 die("ERROR: " + str(e))
         else:
diff --git a/panel/tests/test_auth.py b/panel/tests/test_auth.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2484d52042
--- /dev/null
+++ b/panel/tests/test_auth.py
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+"""
+This module contains tests for handling OAuth login and response decoding
+using the Tornado HTTP client and Panel's OAuthLoginHandler.
+"""
+
+from unittest.mock import Mock, patch
+
+import pytest
+
+from tornado.httpclient import HTTPRequest, HTTPResponse
+from tornado.web import HTTPError
+
+from panel.auth import OAuthLoginHandler, decode_response_body
+
+
+def _create_mock_response(body, code=401):
+    """
+    Create a mock HTTPResponse object with the specified body and status code.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    body : bytes
+        The body content of the mock response.
+    code : int, optional
+        The HTTP status code of the mock response (default is 401).
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    Mock
+        A mock HTTPResponse object with the specified attributes.
+    """
+    mock_request = Mock(spec=HTTPRequest)
+    mock_response = Mock(spec=HTTPResponse)
+    mock_response.body = body
+    mock_response.request = mock_request
+    mock_response.code = code
+    return mock_response
+
+def test_decode_invalid_response_body():
+    """
+    Test the decode_response_body function with an invalid JSON response body.
+
+    Ensures that the function can handle and correct invalid JSON containing
+    single quotes, which are not valid in JSON strings.
+    """
+    # The body below from azure contains \' which is not valid json.
+    body = b'{"error_description":"... for a secret added to app \'some-value\'."}'
+    invalid_response = _create_mock_response(body)
+    result = decode_response_body(invalid_response)
+    assert result == {'error_description': '... for a secret added to app "some-value".'}
+
+def test_raise_error():
+    """
+    Test the _raise_error method of OAuthLoginHandler with an invalid JSON response.
+
+    Mocks the OAuthLoginHandler to bypass initialization and verifies that
+    an HTTPError is raised when the response contains invalid JSON.
+    """
+    response = _create_mock_response(b'{"invalid_json": "missing_end_quote}')
+    with patch.object(OAuthLoginHandler, '__init__', lambda self, *args, **kwargs: None):
+        handler = OAuthLoginHandler()
+        with pytest.raises(HTTPError):
+            handler._raise_error(response=response, body=None, status=401)