diff --git a/src/main/src/main/java/org/geoserver/security/filter/GeoServerRequestHeaderAuthenticationFilter.java b/src/main/src/main/java/org/geoserver/security/filter/GeoServerRequestHeaderAuthenticationFilter.java
index cbb6083bc7b..f6ec84e6415 100644
--- a/src/main/src/main/java/org/geoserver/security/filter/GeoServerRequestHeaderAuthenticationFilter.java
+++ b/src/main/src/main/java/org/geoserver/security/filter/GeoServerRequestHeaderAuthenticationFilter.java
@@ -7,12 +7,19 @@
 package org.geoserver.security.filter;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import javax.servlet.FilterChain;
+import javax.servlet.ServletException;
+import javax.servlet.ServletRequest;
+import javax.servlet.ServletResponse;
 import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
 import org.geoserver.security.config.RequestHeaderAuthenticationFilterConfig;
 import org.geoserver.security.config.SecurityNamedServiceConfig;
+import org.springframework.security.core.Authentication;
+import org.springframework.security.core.context.SecurityContextHolder;
+import org.springframework.security.web.authentication.preauth.PreAuthenticatedAuthenticationToken;
 
 /**
- * J2EE Authentication Filter
+ * Request header Authentication Filter
  *
  * @author mcr
  */
@@ -38,6 +45,22 @@ public void initializeFromConfig(SecurityNamedServiceConfig config) throws IOExc
         setPrincipalHeaderAttribute(authConfig.getPrincipalHeaderAttribute());
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public void doFilter(ServletRequest request, ServletResponse response, FilterChain chain)
+            throws IOException, ServletException {
+        String principalName = getPreAuthenticatedPrincipalName((HttpServletRequest) request);
+        Authentication preAuth = SecurityContextHolder.getContext().getAuthentication();
+        // If a pre-auth token exists but the request has no principal name anymore
+        // or differs from the one being sent in the headers, clear the
+        // security context, or else the user will remain authenticated.
+        if (preAuth instanceof PreAuthenticatedAuthenticationToken
+                && ((null == principalName)
+                        || (!principalName.equals(preAuth.getPrincipal().toString())))) {
+            SecurityContextHolder.clearContext();
+        }
+        super.doFilter(request, response, chain);
+    }
+
     @Override
     protected String getPreAuthenticatedPrincipalName(HttpServletRequest request) {
         return request.getHeader(getPrincipalHeaderAttribute());
diff --git a/src/main/src/test/java/org/geoserver/security/filter/GeoServerRequestHeaderAuthenticationFilterTest.java b/src/main/src/test/java/org/geoserver/security/filter/GeoServerRequestHeaderAuthenticationFilterTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..1acdde7ae07
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/src/test/java/org/geoserver/security/filter/GeoServerRequestHeaderAuthenticationFilterTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+/* (c) 2023 Open Source Geospatial Foundation - all rights reserved
+ * This code is licensed under the GPL 2.0 license, available at the root
+ * application directory.
+ */
+package org.geoserver.security.filter;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertNull;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
+import org.geoserver.config.GeoServerDataDirectory;
+import org.geoserver.security.GeoServerSecurityManager;
+import org.geoserver.security.config.PreAuthenticatedUserNameFilterConfig;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.springframework.mock.web.MockFilterChain;
+import org.springframework.mock.web.MockHttpServletRequest;
+import org.springframework.mock.web.MockHttpServletResponse;
+import org.springframework.security.core.context.SecurityContext;
+import org.springframework.security.core.context.SecurityContextHolder;
+import org.springframework.security.core.context.SecurityContextImpl;
+import org.springframework.security.web.authentication.preauth.PreAuthenticatedAuthenticationToken;
+
+public class GeoServerRequestHeaderAuthenticationFilterTest {
+
+    @Test
+    public void testAuthenticationViaPreAuthChanging() throws Exception {
+        MockHttpServletRequest request = new MockHttpServletRequest();
+        HttpServletResponse response = new MockHttpServletResponse();
+        MockFilterChain filterChain = new MockFilterChain();
+        SecurityContext sc = new SecurityContextImpl();
+        sc.setAuthentication(new PreAuthenticatedAuthenticationToken("testadmin", null));
+        SecurityContextHolder.setContext(sc);
+        GeoServerRequestHeaderAuthenticationFilter toTest =
+                new GeoServerRequestHeaderAuthenticationFilter();
+        toTest.setPrincipalHeaderAttribute("sec-username");
+        request.addHeader("sec-username", "testuser");
+        toTest.setSecurityManager(
+                new GeoServerSecurityManager(new GeoServerDataDirectory(new File("/tmp"))));
+        toTest.setRoleSource(
+                PreAuthenticatedUserNameFilterConfig.PreAuthenticatedUserNameRoleSource.Header);
+
+        toTest.doFilter(request, response, filterChain);
+
+        assertEquals(
+                "testuser",
+                SecurityContextHolder.getContext().getAuthentication().getPrincipal().toString());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testAuthenticationViaPreAuthNoHeader() throws Exception {
+        MockHttpServletRequest request = new MockHttpServletRequest();
+        HttpServletResponse response = new MockHttpServletResponse();
+        MockFilterChain filterChain = new MockFilterChain();
+        SecurityContext sc = new SecurityContextImpl();
+        sc.setAuthentication(new PreAuthenticatedAuthenticationToken("testadmin", null));
+        SecurityContextHolder.setContext(sc);
+        GeoServerRequestHeaderAuthenticationFilter toTest =
+                new GeoServerRequestHeaderAuthenticationFilter();
+        toTest.setPrincipalHeaderAttribute("sec-username");
+        toTest.setSecurityManager(
+                new GeoServerSecurityManager(new GeoServerDataDirectory(new File("/tmp"))));
+        toTest.setRoleSource(
+                PreAuthenticatedUserNameFilterConfig.PreAuthenticatedUserNameRoleSource.Header);
+
+        toTest.doFilter(request, response, filterChain);
+
+        // The security context should have been cleared
+        assertNull(SecurityContextHolder.getContext().getAuthentication());
+    }
+}