diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb b/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb
index 0ee946872b..210521c5ec 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb
@@ -391,7 +391,7 @@ class CurlDownloadStrategy < AbstractFileDownloadStrategy
       resolved_url, _, url_time, _, is_redirection =
         resolve_url_basename_time_file_size(url, timeout: end_time&.remaining!)
       # Authorization is no longer valid after redirects
-      meta[:headers].delete_if { |header| header.first&.start_with?("Authorization") } if is_redirection
+      meta[:headers]&.delete_if { |header| header.first&.start_with?("Authorization") } if is_redirection
 
       fresh = if cached_location.exist? && url_time
         url_time <= cached_location.mtime