diff --git a/src/backend/controllers/auth/AuthController.ts b/src/backend/controllers/auth/AuthController.ts
index 108e93c2b..df6f27c94 100644
--- a/src/backend/controllers/auth/AuthController.ts
+++ b/src/backend/controllers/auth/AuthController.ts
@@ -18,8 +18,8 @@
  */
 
 import bcrypt from 'bcrypt';
-import crypto from 'node:crypto';
 import type { Request, RequestHandler, Response } from 'express';
+import crypto from 'node:crypto';
 import { v4 as uuidv4 } from 'uuid';
 import validator from 'validator';
 import { Controller, Get, Post } from '../../core/http/decorators.js';
@@ -41,8 +41,8 @@ import {
     createSecret as otpCreateSecret,
     verify as verifyOtp,
 } from '../../services/auth/OTPUtil.js';
-import { cleanEmail, isBlockedEmail } from '../../util/email.js';
 import { sessionCookieFlags } from '../../util/cookieFlags.js';
+import { cleanEmail, isBlockedEmail } from '../../util/email.js';
 import { generate_identifier } from '../../util/identifier.js';
 import { getTaskbarItems } from '../../util/taskbarItems.js';
 import {
@@ -94,7 +94,6 @@ export class AuthController extends PuterController {
     // ── Login ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
     @Post('/login', {
-        subdomain: ['api', ''],
         captcha: true,
         rateLimit: { scope: 'login', limit: 10, window: 15 * 60_000 },
     })
@@ -191,7 +190,6 @@ export class AuthController extends PuterController {
     // ── Login: OTP verification ─────────────────────────────────────
 
     @Post('/login/otp', {
-        subdomain: ['api', ''],
         captcha: true,
         rateLimit: {
             scope: 'login-otp',
@@ -246,7 +244,6 @@ export class AuthController extends PuterController {
     // ── Login: recovery code ────────────────────────────────────────
 
     @Post('/login/recovery-code', {
-        subdomain: ['api', ''],
         captcha: true,
         rateLimit: {
             scope: 'login-recovery',
@@ -314,7 +311,6 @@ export class AuthController extends PuterController {
     // ── Signup ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
     @Post('/signup', {
-        subdomain: ['api', ''],
         captcha: true,
         rateLimit: { scope: 'signup', limit: 10, window: 15 * 60_000 },
     })
@@ -707,14 +703,13 @@ export class AuthController extends PuterController {
     // ── Logout ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
     @Post('/logout', {
-        subdomain: ['api', ''],
         requireAuth: true,
         allowUnconfirmed: true,
         antiCsrf: true,
     })
     async handleLogout(req: Request, res: Response): Promise<void> {
         // Clear the session cookie
-        res.clearCookie(this.config.cookie_name);
+        res.clearCookie(this.config.cookie_name!);
 
         // Remove the session (fire-and-forget)
         if (req.token) {
@@ -1552,7 +1547,6 @@ export class AuthController extends PuterController {
     // ── Anti-CSRF token generation ──────────────────────────────────
 
     @Get('/get-anticsrf-token', {
-        subdomain: '',
         requireAuth: true,
         allowUnconfirmed: true,
     })
@@ -2326,7 +2320,6 @@ export class AuthController extends PuterController {
     // ── Session helpers ─────────────────────────────────────────────
 
     @Get('/get-gui-token', {
-        subdomain: ['api', ''],
         requireUserActor: true,
         allowUnconfirmed: true,
     })
@@ -2348,7 +2341,6 @@ export class AuthController extends PuterController {
     }
 
     @Get('/session/sync-cookie', {
-        subdomain: ['api', ''],
         requireUserActor: true,
         allowUnconfirmed: true,
     })
@@ -2382,7 +2374,7 @@ export class AuthController extends PuterController {
 
     async handleDeleteOwnUser(req: Request, res: Response): Promise<void> {
         const userId = req.actor!.user.id!;
-        res.clearCookie(this.config.cookie_name);
+        res.clearCookie(this.config.cookie_name!);
         res.clearCookie('puter_revalidation');
         await this.#cascadeDeleteUser(userId);
         res.json({ success: true });
@@ -2442,7 +2434,6 @@ export class AuthController extends PuterController {
         router.post(
             '/user-protected/change-password',
             {
-                subdomain: ['api', ''],
                 requireUserActor: true,
                 rateLimit: {
                     scope: 'passwd',
@@ -2462,7 +2453,6 @@ export class AuthController extends PuterController {
         router.post(
             '/user-protected/change-username',
             {
-                subdomain: ['api', ''],
                 requireUserActor: true,
                 requireVerified: true,
                 rateLimit: {
@@ -2483,7 +2473,6 @@ export class AuthController extends PuterController {
         router.post(
             '/user-protected/change-email',
             {
-                subdomain: ['api', ''],
                 requireUserActor: true,
                 rateLimit: {
                     scope: 'change-email-start',
@@ -2503,7 +2492,6 @@ export class AuthController extends PuterController {
         router.post(
             '/user-protected/disable-2fa',
             {
-                subdomain: ['api', ''],
                 requireUserActor: true,
                 rateLimit: {
                     scope: 'disable-2fa',
@@ -2523,7 +2511,6 @@ export class AuthController extends PuterController {
         router.post(
             '/user-protected/delete-own-user',
             {
-                subdomain: ['api', ''],
                 requireUserActor: true,
                 allowUnconfirmed: true,
                 middleware: [
diff --git a/src/backend/server.ts b/src/backend/server.ts
index 472c17188..ea4b2a5ae 100644
--- a/src/backend/server.ts
+++ b/src/backend/server.ts
@@ -368,13 +368,10 @@ export class PuterServer {
      *     `#materializeRoute` as those options ship.
      */
     #installGlobalMiddleware() {
-        // ── Cookie parsing ──────────────────────────────────────────
         this.#app.use(cookieParser());
 
-        // ── Compression ─────────────────────────────────────────────
         this.#app.use(compression());
 
-        // ── Security headers (helmet) ───────────────────────────────
         this.#app.use(helmet.noSniff());
         this.#app.use(helmet.hsts());
         this.#app.use(helmet.ieNoOpen());
@@ -615,7 +612,6 @@ export class PuterServer {
         this.#app.use((req, res, next) => {
             const origin = req.headers.origin;
             const subdomain = req.subdomains?.[req.subdomains.length - 1];
-            const isApiOrDav = subdomain === 'api' || subdomain === 'dav';
 
             // Allow any origin. puter.js is meant to be consumed from
             // arbitrary third-party sites, so reflect the caller's origin
@@ -623,11 +619,11 @@ export class PuterServer {
             res.setHeader('Access-Control-Allow-Origin', origin ?? '*');
             if (origin) res.vary('Origin');
 
-            // Credentials require a specific (non-`*`) Allow-Origin, which
-            // we just set when an origin was present. Enable on API/DAV
-            // so cookie-auth works cross-origin.
-            if (isApiOrDav && origin) {
+            // Sticky cookies require api to allow credentials, but only for the API subdomain, and be careful not to set any other credentials on it
+            if (subdomain === 'api' && origin) {
                 res.setHeader('Access-Control-Allow-Credentials', 'true');
+            } else if (subdomain === 'dav') {
+                res.setHeader('Access-Control-Allow-Credentials', 'false');
             }
 
             res.setHeader('Access-Control-Allow-Methods', allowedMethods);