diff --git a/openwisp_users/middleware.py b/openwisp_users/middleware.py
index 545014dd..2befd944 100644
--- a/openwisp_users/middleware.py
+++ b/openwisp_users/middleware.py
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 from django.contrib import messages
 from django.contrib.auth import REDIRECT_FIELD_NAME
 from django.shortcuts import redirect
-from django.urls import resolve, reverse_lazy
+from django.urls import reverse_lazy
 from django.utils.translation import gettext_lazy as _
+from rest_framework.views import APIView
 
 
 class PasswordExpirationMiddleware:
@@ -25,14 +26,20 @@ def __init__(self, get_response):
     def __call__(self, request):
         response = self.get_response(request)
         # Check if the user is authenticated and their password has expired
-        if (
-            request.user.is_authenticated
-            and request.user.has_password_expired()
-            # We use `resolve()` here to get the `url_name` from the `request.path`.
-            # This is more flexible than using `reverse()` as it doesn't require
-            # passing arguments to get the correct path.
-            and resolve(request.path).url_name not in self.exempted_url_names
-        ):
+        if not (request.user.is_authenticated and request.user.has_password_expired()):
+            return response
+        # `request.resolver_match` is already populated by Django while handling
+        # the request, no need to call `resolve()` again (which would raise
+        # `Resolver404` for genuinely unmatched paths).
+        url_match = request.resolver_match
+        if url_match is None:
+            return response
+        # DRF sets `cls` on the view function returned by `APIView.as_view()`,
+        # regular Django views don't have this attribute, so this reliably
+        # tells apart API requests, which must not be redirected to an HTML
+        # page since API clients expect a proper API response.
+        is_api_request = issubclass(getattr(url_match.func, "cls", object), APIView)
+        if not is_api_request and url_match.url_name not in self.exempted_url_names:
             messages.warning(
                 request,
                 _("Your password has expired, please update your password."),
diff --git a/openwisp_users/tests/test_middlewares.py b/openwisp_users/tests/test_middlewares.py
index 79bfe59b..67e7c52c 100644
--- a/openwisp_users/tests/test_middlewares.py
+++ b/openwisp_users/tests/test_middlewares.py
@@ -6,12 +6,15 @@
 from django.utils.timezone import now, timedelta
 
 from .. import settings as app_settings
+from .test_api import AuthenticationMixin
 from .utils import TestOrganizationMixin
 
 User = get_user_model()
 
 
-class TestPasswordExpirationMiddleware(TestOrganizationMixin, TestCase):
+class TestPasswordExpirationMiddleware(
+    TestOrganizationMixin, AuthenticationMixin, TestCase
+):
     @modify_settings(
         MIDDLEWARE={
             "remove": ["openwisp_users.middleware.PasswordExpirationMiddleware"]
@@ -47,3 +50,22 @@ def test_queries_middleware_present(self):
             self.assertEqual(response.url, "/accounts/password/change/?next=/admin/")
         with self.assertNumQueries(1):
             self.client.force_login(admin)
+
+    @modify_settings(
+        MIDDLEWARE={
+            "append": ["openwisp_users.middleware.PasswordExpirationMiddleware"]
+        }
+    )
+    @patch.object(app_settings, "STAFF_USER_PASSWORD_EXPIRATION", 10)
+    def test_api_request_not_redirected(self):
+        admin = self._create_admin(
+            username="apiuser",
+            password="tester",
+            password_updated=now().date() - timedelta(days=180),
+        )
+        token = self._obtain_auth_token(username="apiuser", password="tester")
+        response = self.client.get(
+            reverse("users:user_detail", args=(admin.pk,)),
+            HTTP_AUTHORIZATION=f"Bearer {token}",
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(response.status_code, 200)