diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 1e14f08b..98721f65 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## [2.6.3] - 2026-05-??
 
+- Fix [#673](https://github.com/Neoteroi/BlackSheep/issues/673): `JWTOpenIDTokensHandler.authenticate`
+  was discarding the `Identity` returned by the inner `auth_handler`, causing
+  `request.identity` to always be empty. Also fixes the refresh token not being
+  attached to the identity when a refresh token header is present.
 - Fix [#675](https://github.com/Neoteroi/BlackSheep/issues/675): fix `OverflowError`
   when serving large files inefficiently; `get_chunks` in `scribe.pyx` used a C `int`
   loop variable that overflows for responses larger than ~2 GB. Changed to `Py_ssize_t`.
diff --git a/blacksheep/__init__.py b/blacksheep/__init__.py
index ae2371d2..aa0d0fc3 100644
--- a/blacksheep/__init__.py
+++ b/blacksheep/__init__.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 """
 
 __author__ = "Roberto Prevato <roberto.prevato@gmail.com>"
-__version__ = "2.6.2"
+__version__ = "2.6.3"
 
 from .contents import Content as Content
 from .contents import FileBuffer as FileBuffer
diff --git a/blacksheep/server/authentication/jwt.py b/blacksheep/server/authentication/jwt.py
index 539bedd8..cbea8d75 100644
--- a/blacksheep/server/authentication/jwt.py
+++ b/blacksheep/server/authentication/jwt.py
@@ -210,7 +210,9 @@ async def authenticate(self, context: Request) -> Identity | None:
             # Raise a dedicated exception to keep track of the event
             raise InvalidCredentialsError(context.original_client_ip)
         else:
-            return Identity(decoded, self.scheme)
+            identity = Identity(decoded, self.scheme)
+            context.user = identity
+            return identity
 
     @property
     def scheme(self) -> str:
diff --git a/blacksheep/server/authentication/oidc.py b/blacksheep/server/authentication/oidc.py
index 85a70c82..047cd180 100644
--- a/blacksheep/server/authentication/oidc.py
+++ b/blacksheep/server/authentication/oidc.py
@@ -667,7 +667,7 @@ def _get_refresh_token_header_name(self) -> bytes:
     def protect_refresh_token(self, refresh_token: str) -> str:
         return self._serializer.dumps(refresh_token)  # type: ignore
 
-    def restore_refresh_token(self, context: Request) -> None:
+    def restore_refresh_token(self, context: Request) -> Identity | None:
         refresh_token_header = context.get_first_header(
             self._get_refresh_token_header_name()
         )
@@ -685,10 +685,12 @@ def restore_refresh_token(self, context: Request) -> None:
                     context.user = Identity()
                 context.user.refresh_token = value
 
+        return context.user
+
     async def authenticate(self, context: Request) -> Identity | None:
         await self.auth_handler.authenticate(context)
-
         self.restore_refresh_token(context)
+        return context.user
 
 
 class TokenType(Enum):
diff --git a/tests/test_auth.py b/tests/test_auth.py
index fb8bc6a3..0c51cc10 100644
--- a/tests/test_auth.py
+++ b/tests/test_auth.py
@@ -1017,3 +1017,124 @@ async def home(request):
 
 
 # endregion
+
+
+# region JWTOpenIDTokensHandler
+
+
+async def test_jwt_openid_tokens_handler_authenticate_returns_identity(
+    app, symmetric_secret
+):
+    """
+    Verifies that JWTOpenIDTokensHandler.authenticate returns the identity from the
+    inner auth_handler instead of discarding it (regression test for issue #673).
+    """
+    from blacksheep.server.authentication.oidc import JWTOpenIDTokensHandler
+
+    jwt_auth = JWTBearerAuthentication(
+        valid_audiences=["test-audience"],
+        valid_issuers=["test-issuer"],
+        secret_key=symmetric_secret,
+    )
+
+    app.use_authentication().add(JWTOpenIDTokensHandler(jwt_auth))
+
+    identity: Identity | None = None
+
+    @app.router.get("/")
+    async def home(request):
+        nonlocal identity
+        identity = request.user
+        return None
+
+    access_token = get_symmetric_token(
+        symmetric_secret.get_value(),
+        {
+            "aud": "test-audience",
+            "iss": "test-issuer",
+            "sub": "user123",
+            "name": "Test User",
+            "exp": 9999999999,
+        },
+    )
+
+    await app(
+        get_example_scope(
+            "GET",
+            "/",
+            extra_headers=[(b"Authorization", b"Bearer " + access_token.encode())],
+        ),
+        MockReceive(),
+        MockSend(),
+    )
+
+    assert app.response is not None
+    assert app.response.status == 204
+    assert identity is not None
+    assert identity.is_authenticated() is True
+    assert identity["sub"] == "user123"
+
+
+async def test_jwt_openid_tokens_handler_authenticate_with_refresh_token(
+    app, symmetric_secret
+):
+    """
+    Verifies that JWTOpenIDTokensHandler.authenticate restores the refresh token
+    on the returned identity when the refresh token header is present.
+    """
+    from blacksheep.server.authentication.oidc import (
+        JWTOpenIDTokensHandler,
+        HTMLStorageType,
+    )
+    from itsdangerous import URLSafeSerializer
+
+    jwt_auth = JWTBearerAuthentication(
+        valid_audiences=["test-audience"],
+        valid_issuers=["test-issuer"],
+        secret_key=symmetric_secret,
+    )
+
+    handler = JWTOpenIDTokensHandler(jwt_auth)
+    app.use_authentication().add(handler)
+
+    identity: Identity | None = None
+
+    @app.router.get("/")
+    async def home(request):
+        nonlocal identity
+        identity = request.user
+        return None
+
+    access_token = get_symmetric_token(
+        symmetric_secret.get_value(),
+        {
+            "aud": "test-audience",
+            "iss": "test-issuer",
+            "sub": "user456",
+            "exp": 9999999999,
+        },
+    )
+    protected_refresh_token = handler.protect_refresh_token("my-refresh-token")
+
+    await app(
+        get_example_scope(
+            "GET",
+            "/",
+            extra_headers=[
+                (b"Authorization", b"Bearer " + access_token.encode()),
+                (b"X-REFRESH-TOKEN", protected_refresh_token.encode()),
+            ],
+        ),
+        MockReceive(),
+        MockSend(),
+    )
+
+    assert app.response is not None
+    assert app.response.status == 204
+    assert identity is not None
+    assert identity.is_authenticated() is True
+    assert identity["sub"] == "user456"
+    assert identity.refresh_token == "my-refresh-token"  # type: ignore[attr-defined]
+
+
+# endregion