diff --git a/internal/upstreamoidc/upstreamoidc.go b/internal/upstreamoidc/upstreamoidc.go
index c8d3722f..659246ab 100644
--- a/internal/upstreamoidc/upstreamoidc.go
+++ b/internal/upstreamoidc/upstreamoidc.go
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ type ProviderConfig struct {
 	AllowPasswordGrant bool
 	Provider           interface {
 		Verifier(*coreosoidc.Config) *coreosoidc.IDTokenVerifier
+		Claims(v interface{}) error
 		UserInfo(ctx context.Context, tokenSource oauth2.TokenSource) (*coreosoidc.UserInfo, error)
 	}
 }
@@ -160,14 +161,21 @@ func (p *ProviderConfig) fetchUserInfo(ctx context.Context, tok *oauth2.Token, c
 		return nil // defer to existing ID token validation
 	}
 
+	providerJSON := &struct {
+		UserInfoURL string `json:"userinfo_endpoint"`
+	}{}
+	if err := p.Provider.Claims(providerJSON); err != nil {
+		// this should never happen because we should have already parsed these claims at an earlier stage
+		return httperr.Wrap(http.StatusInternalServerError, "could not unmarshal discovery JSON", err)
+	}
+
+	// implementing the user info endpoint is not required, skip this logic when it is absent
+	if len(providerJSON.UserInfoURL) == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+
 	userInfo, err := p.Provider.UserInfo(coreosoidc.ClientContext(ctx, p.Client), oauth2.StaticTokenSource(tok))
 	if err != nil {
-		// the user info endpoint is not required but we do not have a good way to probe if it was provided
-		const userInfoUnsupported = "oidc: user info endpoint is not supported by this provider"
-		if err.Error() == userInfoUnsupported {
-			return nil
-		}
-
 		return httperr.Wrap(http.StatusInternalServerError, "could not get user info", err)
 	}
 
diff --git a/internal/upstreamoidc/upstreamoidc_test.go b/internal/upstreamoidc/upstreamoidc_test.go
index 801207bf..2ffd40ca 100644
--- a/internal/upstreamoidc/upstreamoidc_test.go
+++ b/internal/upstreamoidc/upstreamoidc_test.go
@@ -70,9 +70,6 @@ func TestProviderConfig(t *testing.T) {
 		validIDToken = "eyJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsImtpZCI6InRlc3Qta2lkIiwidHlwIjoiSldUIn0.eyJhdWQiOiJ0ZXN0LWNsaWVudC1pZCIsImJhdCI6ImJheiIsImZvbyI6ImJhciIsImlhdCI6MTYwNjc2ODU5MywianRpIjoidGVzdC1qdGkiLCJuYmYiOjE2MDY3Njg1OTMsInN1YiI6InRlc3QtdXNlciJ9.DuqVZ7pGhHqKz7gNr4j2W1s1N8YrSltktH4wW19L4oD1OE2-O72jAnNj5xdjilsa8l7h9ox-5sMF0Tkh3BdRlHQK9dEtNm9tW-JreUnWJ3LCqUs-LZp4NG7edvq2sH_1Bn7O2_NQV51s8Pl04F60CndjQ4NM-6WkqDQTKyY6vJXU7idvM-6TM2HJZK-Na88cOJ9KIK37tL5DhcbsHVF47Dq8uPZ0KbjNQjJLAIi_1GeQBgc6yJhDUwRY4Xu6S0dtTHA6xTI8oSXoamt4bkViEHfJBp97LZQiNz8mku5pVc0aNwP1p4hMHxRHhLXrJjbh-Hx4YFjxtOnIq9t1mHlD4A" //nolint: gosec
 	)
 
-	// if the error string for unsupported user info changes, this will hopefully catch it
-	_, userInfoNotSupported := (&oidc.Provider{}).UserInfo(context.Background(), nil)
-
 	t.Run("PasswordCredentialsGrantAndValidateTokens", func(t *testing.T) {
 		tests := []struct {
 			name                  string
@@ -82,6 +79,7 @@ func TestProviderConfig(t *testing.T) {
 			wantErr               string
 			wantToken             oidctypes.Token
 
+			rawClaims          []byte
 			userInfo           *oidc.UserInfo
 			userInfoErr        error
 			wantUserInfoCalled bool
@@ -111,8 +109,8 @@ func TestProviderConfig(t *testing.T) {
 						},
 					},
 				},
-				userInfoErr:        userInfoNotSupported,
-				wantUserInfoCalled: true,
+				rawClaims:          []byte(`{}`), // user info not supported
+				wantUserInfoCalled: false,
 			},
 			{
 				name:        "valid with userinfo",
@@ -245,6 +243,11 @@ func TestProviderConfig(t *testing.T) {
 				}))
 				t.Cleanup(tokenServer.Close)
 
+				rawClaims := tt.rawClaims
+				if len(rawClaims) == 0 && (tt.userInfo != nil || tt.userInfoErr != nil) {
+					rawClaims = []byte(`{"userinfo_endpoint": "not-empty"}`)
+				}
+
 				p := ProviderConfig{
 					Name:          "test-name",
 					UsernameClaim: "test-username-claim",
@@ -260,6 +263,7 @@ func TestProviderConfig(t *testing.T) {
 						Scopes: []string{"scope1", "scope2"},
 					},
 					Provider: &mockProvider{
+						rawClaims:   rawClaims,
 						userInfo:    tt.userInfo,
 						userInfoErr: tt.userInfoErr,
 					},
@@ -293,6 +297,7 @@ func TestProviderConfig(t *testing.T) {
 			wantErr     string
 			wantToken   oidctypes.Token
 
+			rawClaims          []byte
 			userInfo           *oidc.UserInfo
 			userInfoErr        error
 			wantUserInfoCalled bool
@@ -352,8 +357,8 @@ func TestProviderConfig(t *testing.T) {
 						},
 					},
 				},
-				userInfoErr:        userInfoNotSupported,
-				wantUserInfoCalled: true,
+				rawClaims:          []byte(`{}`), // user info not supported
+				wantUserInfoCalled: false,
 			},
 			{
 				name:        "valid",
@@ -381,8 +386,15 @@ func TestProviderConfig(t *testing.T) {
 						},
 					},
 				},
-				userInfoErr:        userInfoNotSupported,
-				wantUserInfoCalled: true,
+				rawClaims:          []byte(`{}`), // user info not supported
+				wantUserInfoCalled: false,
+			},
+			{
+				name:        "user info discovery parse error",
+				authCode:    "valid",
+				returnIDTok: validIDToken,
+				rawClaims:   []byte(`junk`), // user info discovery fails
+				wantErr:     "could not fetch user info claims: could not unmarshal discovery JSON: invalid character 'j' looking for beginning of value",
 			},
 			{
 				name:        "user info fetch error",
@@ -496,6 +508,11 @@ func TestProviderConfig(t *testing.T) {
 				}))
 				t.Cleanup(tokenServer.Close)
 
+				rawClaims := tt.rawClaims
+				if len(rawClaims) == 0 && (tt.userInfo != nil || tt.userInfoErr != nil) {
+					rawClaims = []byte(`{"userinfo_endpoint": "not-empty"}`)
+				}
+
 				p := ProviderConfig{
 					Name:          "test-name",
 					UsernameClaim: "test-username-claim",
@@ -511,6 +528,7 @@ func TestProviderConfig(t *testing.T) {
 						Scopes: []string{"scope1", "scope2"},
 					},
 					Provider: &mockProvider{
+						rawClaims:   rawClaims,
 						userInfo:    tt.userInfo,
 						userInfoErr: tt.userInfoErr,
 					},
@@ -559,12 +577,17 @@ func mockVerifier() *oidc.IDTokenVerifier {
 
 type mockProvider struct {
 	called      bool
+	rawClaims   []byte
 	userInfo    *oidc.UserInfo
 	userInfoErr error
 }
 
 func (m *mockProvider) Verifier(_ *oidc.Config) *oidc.IDTokenVerifier { return mockVerifier() }
 
+func (m *mockProvider) Claims(v interface{}) error {
+	return json.Unmarshal(m.rawClaims, v)
+}
+
 func (m *mockProvider) UserInfo(_ context.Context, tokenSource oauth2.TokenSource) (*oidc.UserInfo, error) {
 	m.called = true