diff --git a/scripts/hopper-demo-x11.py b/scripts/hopper-demo-x11.py
index 3940cfe2ab..fdb91ec15b 100644
--- a/scripts/hopper-demo-x11.py
+++ b/scripts/hopper-demo-x11.py
@@ -479,13 +479,13 @@ def authorize_display(
         authorized = subprocess.run(
             [
                 xauth_path,
+                "-q",
                 "-f",
                 str(authority),
-                "add",
-                display_name,
-                ".",
-                secrets.token_hex(16),
+                "source",
+                "-",
             ],
+            input=("add %s . %s\n" % (display_name, secrets.token_hex(16))).encode("ascii"),
             check=False,
             stdout=subprocess.DEVNULL,
             stderr=subprocess.PIPE,
diff --git a/tests/boundary/providers/hopper/linuxPrivateDisplay.test.ts b/tests/boundary/providers/hopper/linuxPrivateDisplay.test.ts
index 777b30f5e0..6d27314988 100644
--- a/tests/boundary/providers/hopper/linuxPrivateDisplay.test.ts
+++ b/tests/boundary/providers/hopper/linuxPrivateDisplay.test.ts
@@ -340,3 +340,20 @@ describe("private display probe output settlement", () => {
     },
   );
 });
+
+it("passes the private X authority cookie through xauth stdin", () => {
+  const fixture = fileURLToPath(
+    new URL("../../../fixtures/hopperXauthority.py", import.meta.url),
+  );
+  const process = spawnSync("python3", ["-I", "-S", fixture, helperPath], {
+    encoding: "utf8",
+    timeout: 5_000,
+  });
+  expect(process.status, process.stderr).toBe(0);
+  expect(JSON.parse(process.stdout)).toMatchObject({
+    arguments: ["fixture-xauth", "-q", "-f", expect.any(String), "source", "-"],
+    stdin: `add :123 . ${"0123456789abcdef".repeat(2)}\n`,
+    cookie_in_argv: false,
+    mode: 0o600,
+  });
+});
diff --git a/tests/fixtures/hopperXauthority.py b/tests/fixtures/hopperXauthority.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b70e9e309c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/fixtures/hopperXauthority.py
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Observe the production xauth invocation without launching an X server."""
+import importlib.util
+import json
+from pathlib import Path
+import sys
+import tempfile
+import types
+
+spec = importlib.util.spec_from_file_location("hopper_demo_x11", sys.argv[1])
+assert spec is not None and spec.loader is not None
+helper = importlib.util.module_from_spec(spec)
+spec.loader.exec_module(helper)
+
+cookie = "0123456789abcdef" * 2
+calls = []
+def run(arguments, **options):
+    calls.append((arguments, options))
+    return types.SimpleNamespace(returncode=0)
+helper.subprocess.run = run
+helper.secrets.token_hex = lambda _bytes: cookie
+with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory(prefix="rea-xauth-fixture-") as root:
+    authority = Path(root) / "authority"
+    authority.touch()
+    helper.authorize_display(authority, ":123", "fixture-xauth")
+    arguments, options = calls[0]
+    print(json.dumps({
+        "arguments": arguments,
+        "stdin": options["input"].decode("ascii"),
+        "cookie_in_argv": any(cookie in value for value in arguments),
+        "mode": authority.stat().st_mode & 0o777,
+    }))