diff --git a/lib/manager/npm/registry.js b/lib/manager/npm/registry.js
index 5bcc66c77fe866b5626c3189654fe1057d4876e3..04ec83559d9dddb664e5a205126c1ef7a122a965 100644
--- a/lib/manager/npm/registry.js
+++ b/lib/manager/npm/registry.js
@@ -84,6 +84,10 @@ async function getDependency(name) {
     logger.trace({ dep }, 'dep');
     return dep;
   } catch (err) {
+    if (err.statusCode === 401) {
+      logger.info({ err, name }, `Dependency lookup unauthorized`);
+      return null;
+    }
     if (err.statusCode === 404) {
       logger.info({ err, name }, `Dependency not found`);
       return null;
diff --git a/test/manager/npm/registry.spec.js b/test/manager/npm/registry.spec.js
index 63ca5b9430569822e6de7b379ba43e29e072e9a2..0d1df746ad9ca7a7c918978a28065f860fda8d6d 100644
--- a/test/manager/npm/registry.spec.js
+++ b/test/manager/npm/registry.spec.js
@@ -45,6 +45,13 @@ describe('api/npm', () => {
     const res = await npm.getDependency('foobarhome');
     expect(res).toMatchSnapshot();
   });
+  it('should return null if lookup fails 401', async () => {
+    nock('https://registry.npmjs.org')
+      .get('/foobar')
+      .reply(401);
+    const res = await npm.getDependency('foobar');
+    expect(res).toBeNull();
+  });
   it('should return null if lookup fails', async () => {
     nock('https://registry.npmjs.org')
       .get('/foobar')