diff --git a/THIRD-PARTY-LICENSES.md b/THIRD-PARTY-LICENSES.md
index 3ddb6a5f..717f6def 100644
--- a/THIRD-PARTY-LICENSES.md
+++ b/THIRD-PARTY-LICENSES.md
@@ -147,7 +147,6 @@ github.com/emirpasic/gods|https://github.com/emirpasic/gods/blob/v1.18.1/LICENSE
 github.com/evanphx/json-patch|https://github.com/evanphx/json-patch/blob/v5.6.0/LICENSE|BSD-3-Clause
 github.com/exponent-io/jsonpath|https://github.com/exponent-io/jsonpath/blob/d6023ce2651d/LICENSE|MIT
 github.com/fatih/color|https://github.com/fatih/color/blob/v1.15.0/LICENSE.md|MIT
-github.com/felixge/httpsnoop|https://github.com/felixge/httpsnoop/blob/v1.0.4/LICENSE.txt|MIT
 github.com/fsnotify/fsnotify|https://github.com/fsnotify/fsnotify/blob/v1.7.0/LICENSE|BSD-3-Clause
 github.com/go-asn1-ber/asn1-ber|https://github.com/go-asn1-ber/asn1-ber/blob/v1.5.5/LICENSE|MIT
 github.com/go-chi/chi|https://github.com/go-chi/chi/blob/v4.1.2/LICENSE|MIT
@@ -198,7 +197,6 @@ github.com/google/uuid|https://github.com/google/uuid/blob/v1.4.0/LICENSE|BSD-3-
 github.com/google/wire|https://github.com/google/wire/blob/v0.5.0/LICENSE|Apache-2.0
 github.com/googleapis/enterprise-certificate-proxy/client|https://github.com/googleapis/enterprise-certificate-proxy/blob/v0.3.2/LICENSE|Apache-2.0
 github.com/googleapis/gax-go/v2|https://github.com/googleapis/gax-go/blob/v2.12.0/v2/LICENSE|BSD-3-Clause
-github.com/gorilla/handlers|https://github.com/gorilla/handlers/blob/v1.5.2/LICENSE|BSD-3-Clause
 github.com/gorilla/mux|https://github.com/gorilla/mux/blob/v1.8.0/LICENSE|BSD-3-Clause
 github.com/gorilla/schema|https://github.com/gorilla/schema/blob/v1.2.0/LICENSE|BSD-3-Clause
 github.com/gorilla/securecookie|https://github.com/gorilla/securecookie/blob/v1.1.2/LICENSE|BSD-3-Clause
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index cc42fab7..f5f98465 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -50,7 +50,6 @@ require (
 	github.com/aws/aws-secretsmanager-caching-go v1.1.3
 	github.com/containers/image/v5 v5.29.0
 	github.com/google/go-github/v52 v52.0.0
-	github.com/gorilla/handlers v1.5.2
 	github.com/gorilla/securecookie v1.1.2
 	github.com/gorilla/sessions v1.2.2
 	github.com/migueleliasweb/go-github-mock v0.0.22
@@ -124,7 +123,6 @@ require (
 	github.com/emicklei/go-restful/v3 v3.11.0 // indirect
 	github.com/evanphx/json-patch v5.6.0+incompatible // indirect
 	github.com/exponent-io/jsonpath v0.0.0-20151013193312-d6023ce2651d // indirect
-	github.com/felixge/httpsnoop v1.0.4 // indirect
 	github.com/go-errors/errors v1.4.2 // indirect
 	github.com/go-gorp/gorp/v3 v3.0.5 // indirect
 	github.com/go-ini/ini v1.67.0 // indirect
@@ -139,6 +137,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/google/licenseclassifier/v2 v2.0.0 // indirect
 	github.com/google/s2a-go v0.1.7 // indirect
 	github.com/google/shlex v0.0.0-20191202100458-e7afc7fbc510 // indirect
+	github.com/gorilla/handlers v1.5.2 // indirect
 	github.com/gosuri/uitable v0.0.4 // indirect
 	github.com/gregjones/httpcache v0.0.0-20180305231024-9cad4c3443a7 // indirect
 	github.com/jmoiron/sqlx v1.3.5 // indirect
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 6e5981c6..ec886794 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -670,7 +670,6 @@ github.com/fatih/color v1.13.0/go.mod h1:kLAiJbzzSOZDVNGyDpeOxJ47H46qBXwg5ILebYF
 github.com/fatih/color v1.15.0 h1:kOqh6YHBtK8aywxGerMG2Eq3H6Qgoqeo13Bk2Mv/nBs=
 github.com/fatih/color v1.15.0/go.mod h1:0h5ZqXfHYED7Bhv2ZJamyIOUej9KtShiJESRwBDUSsw=
 github.com/felixge/httpsnoop v1.0.4 h1:NFTV2Zj1bL4mc9sqWACXbQFVBBg2W3GPvqp8/ESS2Wg=
-github.com/felixge/httpsnoop v1.0.4/go.mod h1:m8KPJKqk1gH5J9DgRY2ASl2lWCfGKXixSwevea8zH2U=
 github.com/fortytw2/leaktest v1.3.0 h1:u8491cBMTQ8ft8aeV+adlcytMZylmA5nnwwkRZjI8vw=
 github.com/foxcpp/go-mockdns v1.0.0 h1:7jBqxd3WDWwi/6WhDvacvH1XsN3rOLXyHM1uhvIx6FI=
 github.com/frankban/quicktest v1.14.3/go.mod h1:mgiwOwqx65TmIk1wJ6Q7wvnVMocbUorkibMOrVTHZps=
diff --git a/pkg/api/controller.go b/pkg/api/controller.go
index 4c1ad625..582411b6 100644
--- a/pkg/api/controller.go
+++ b/pkg/api/controller.go
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ import (
 	"syscall"
 	"time"
 
-	"github.com/gorilla/handlers"
 	"github.com/gorilla/mux"
 	"github.com/zitadel/oidc/pkg/client/rp"
 
@@ -117,9 +116,8 @@ func (c *Controller) Run() error {
 
 	engine.Use(
 		SessionLogger(c),
-		handlers.RecoveryHandler(
-			handlers.PrintRecoveryStack(true),
-		))
+		RecoveryHandler(c.Log),
+	)
 
 	if c.Audit != nil {
 		engine.Use(SessionAuditLogger(c.Audit))
diff --git a/pkg/api/controller_test.go b/pkg/api/controller_test.go
index cd94621b..9db8a225 100644
--- a/pkg/api/controller_test.go
+++ b/pkg/api/controller_test.go
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ import (
 	"zotregistry.io/zot/pkg/storage"
 	storageConstants "zotregistry.io/zot/pkg/storage/constants"
 	"zotregistry.io/zot/pkg/storage/gc"
+	storageTypes "zotregistry.io/zot/pkg/storage/types"
 	authutils "zotregistry.io/zot/pkg/test/auth"
 	test "zotregistry.io/zot/pkg/test/common"
 	"zotregistry.io/zot/pkg/test/deprecated"
@@ -959,6 +960,39 @@ func TestBlobReferenced(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 }
 
+func TestPrintTracebackOnPanic(t *testing.T) {
+	Convey("Run server on unavailable port", t, func() {
+		port := test.GetFreePort()
+		baseURL := test.GetBaseURL(port)
+
+		conf := config.New()
+		conf.HTTP.Port = port
+
+		logFile, err := os.CreateTemp("", "zot-log*.txt")
+		So(err, ShouldBeNil)
+		conf.Log.Output = logFile.Name()
+		defer os.Remove(logFile.Name()) // clean up
+
+		ctlr := makeController(conf, t.TempDir())
+		cm := test.NewControllerManager(ctlr)
+
+		cm.StartAndWait(port)
+		defer cm.StopServer()
+
+		ctlr.StoreController.SubStore = make(map[string]storageTypes.ImageStore)
+		ctlr.StoreController.SubStore["/a"] = nil
+
+		resp, err := resty.R().Get(baseURL + "/v2/_catalog")
+		So(err, ShouldBeNil)
+		So(resp, ShouldNotBeNil)
+		So(resp.StatusCode(), ShouldEqual, http.StatusInternalServerError)
+
+		data, err := os.ReadFile(logFile.Name())
+		So(err, ShouldBeNil)
+		So(string(data), ShouldContainSubstring, "invalid memory address or nil pointer dereference")
+	})
+}
+
 func TestInterruptedBlobUpload(t *testing.T) {
 	Convey("Successfully cleaning interrupted blob uploads", t, func() {
 		port := test.GetFreePort()
diff --git a/pkg/api/recovery.go b/pkg/api/recovery.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ee143c3f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/api/recovery.go
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+package api
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"net/http"
+	"runtime"
+
+	"github.com/gorilla/mux"
+
+	"zotregistry.io/zot/pkg/log"
+)
+
+type Stack struct {
+	Frames []Frame `json:"stack"`
+}
+
+type Frame struct {
+	Name string `json:"function"`
+	File string `json:"file"`
+	Line int    `json:"line"`
+}
+
+// RecoveryHandler is a HTTP middleware that recovers from a panic.
+// It logs the panic and its traceback in json format, writes http.StatusInternalServerError
+// and continues to the next handler.
+func RecoveryHandler(log log.Logger) mux.MiddlewareFunc {
+	return func(next http.Handler) http.Handler {
+		return http.HandlerFunc(func(response http.ResponseWriter, request *http.Request) {
+			defer func() {
+				if err := recover(); err != nil {
+					response.WriteHeader(http.StatusInternalServerError)
+
+					stack := Stack{
+						Frames: getStacktrace(),
+					}
+
+					recoveredErr, ok := err.(error)
+					if ok {
+						buf, err := json.Marshal(stack)
+						if err == nil {
+							log.Error().Err(recoveredErr).RawJSON("traceback", buf).Msg("panic recovered") //nolint: check-logs
+						}
+					}
+				}
+			}()
+
+			// Process request
+			next.ServeHTTP(response, request)
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func getStacktrace() []Frame {
+	stack := []Frame{}
+	//nolint: varnamelen
+	pc := make([]uintptr, 64)
+
+	n := runtime.Callers(0, pc)
+	if n == 0 {
+		return []Frame{}
+	}
+
+	// first three frames are from this file, don't need them.
+	pc = pc[3:]
+	frames := runtime.CallersFrames(pc)
+
+	// loop to get frames.
+	for {
+		frame, more := frames.Next()
+
+		// store this frame
+		stack = append(stack, Frame{
+			Name: frame.Function,
+			File: frame.File,
+			Line: frame.Line,
+		})
+
+		// check whether there are more frames to process after this one.
+		if !more {
+			break
+		}
+	}
+
+	return stack
+}