diff --git a/authorize/evaluator/headers_evaluator_evaluation.go b/authorize/evaluator/headers_evaluator_evaluation.go
index d61215b6a..c5f9c30a1 100644
--- a/authorize/evaluator/headers_evaluator_evaluation.go
+++ b/authorize/evaluator/headers_evaluator_evaluation.go
@@ -280,6 +280,12 @@ func (e *headersEvaluatorEvaluation) getJWTPayloadGroups(ctx context.Context) []
 
 	s, _ := e.getSessionOrServiceAccount(ctx)
 	groups, _ := getClaimStringSlice(s, "groups")
+	if groups == nil {
+		// If there are no groups, marshal this claim as an empty list rather than a JSON null,
+		// for better compatibility with third-party libraries.
+		// See https://github.com/pomerium/pomerium/issues/5393 for one example.
+		groups = []string{}
+	}
 	return groups
 }
 
diff --git a/authorize/evaluator/headers_evaluator_test.go b/authorize/evaluator/headers_evaluator_test.go
index c9194d7bd..3e365695a 100644
--- a/authorize/evaluator/headers_evaluator_test.go
+++ b/authorize/evaluator/headers_evaluator_test.go
@@ -281,6 +281,28 @@ func TestHeadersEvaluator(t *testing.T) {
 		assert.Equal(t, []any{"g1", "g2", "g3", "g4", "GROUP1", "GROUP2", "GROUP3", "GROUP4"}, claims["groups"])
 	})
 
+	t.Run("jwt no groups", func(t *testing.T) {
+		t.Parallel()
+
+		output, err := eval(t,
+			[]protoreflect.ProtoMessage{
+				&session.Session{Id: "s1", UserId: "u1", Claims: map[string]*structpb.ListValue{
+					"name": {Values: []*structpb.Value{
+						structpb.NewStringValue("User Name"),
+					}},
+				}},
+			},
+			&HeadersRequest{
+				Session: RequestSession{ID: "s1"},
+			})
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		jwtHeader := output.Headers.Get("X-Pomerium-Jwt-Assertion")
+		var decoded map[string]any
+		err = json.Unmarshal(decodeJWSPayload(t, jwtHeader), &decoded)
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		assert.Equal(t, []any{}, decoded["groups"])
+	})
+
 	t.Run("set_request_headers", func(t *testing.T) {
 		output, err := eval(t,
 			[]proto.Message{