diff --git a/ldapauthenticator/ldapauthenticator.py b/ldapauthenticator/ldapauthenticator.py
index 8c41b52..b74700f 100644
--- a/ldapauthenticator/ldapauthenticator.py
+++ b/ldapauthenticator/ldapauthenticator.py
@@ -4,8 +4,10 @@
 
 import ldap3
 from jupyterhub.auth import Authenticator
+from ldap3.core.exceptions import LDAPBindError
 from ldap3.utils.conv import escape_filter_chars
 from ldap3.utils.dn import escape_rdn
+
 from traitlets import Bool, Int, List, Unicode, Union, UseEnum, observe, validate
 
 
@@ -335,6 +337,8 @@ def resolve_username(self, username_supplied_by_user):
             userdn=self.lookup_dn_search_user,
             password=self.lookup_dn_search_password,
         )
+        if not conn:
+            return (None, None)
 
         search_filter = self.lookup_dn_search_filter.format(
             login_attr=self.user_attribute,
@@ -379,9 +383,14 @@ def resolve_username(self, username_supplied_by_user):
 
     def get_connection(self, userdn, password):
         """
-        Returns a ldap3 Connection object automatically bound to the user.
+        Returns either a ldap3 Connection object automatically bound to the
+        user, or None if the bind operation failed for some reason.
 
-        ldap3 Connection ref: https://ldap3.readthedocs.io/en/latest/connection.html
+        Raises errors on connectivity or TLS issues.
+
+        ldap3 Connection ref:
+        - docs: https://ldap3.readthedocs.io/en/latest/connection.html
+        - code: https://github.com/cannatag/ldap3/blob/dev/ldap3/core/connection.py
         """
         if self.tls_strategy == TlsStrategy.on_connect:
             use_ssl = True
@@ -398,13 +407,26 @@ def get_connection(self, userdn, password):
             port=self.server_port,
             use_ssl=use_ssl,
         )
-        conn = ldap3.Connection(
-            server,
-            user=userdn,
-            password=password,
-            auto_bind=auto_bind,
-        )
-        return conn
+        try:
+            self.log.debug(f"Attempting to bind {userdn}")
+            conn = ldap3.Connection(
+                server,
+                user=userdn,
+                password=password,
+                auto_bind=auto_bind,
+            )
+        except LDAPBindError as e:
+            self.log.warning(
+                "Failed to bind {userdn}\n{e_type}: {e_msg}".format(
+                    userdn=userdn,
+                    e_type=e.__class__.__name__,
+                    e_msg=e.args[0] if e.args else "",
+                )
+            )
+            return None
+        else:
+            self.log.debug(f"Successfully bound {userdn}")
+            return conn
 
     def get_user_attributes(self, conn, userdn):
         attrs = {}
@@ -460,28 +482,17 @@ async def authenticate(self, handler, data):
             if not bind_dn_template:
                 bind_dn_template = [resolved_dn]
 
-        is_bound = False
+        # bind to ldap user
+        conn = None
         for dn in bind_dn_template:
+            # DN's attribute values should be escaped with escape_rdn to respect
+            # https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc4514#section-2.4
             userdn = dn.format(username=escape_rdn(username))
-            self.log.debug(f"Attempting to bind {username} with {userdn}")
-            msg = "Status of user bind {username} with {userdn} : {is_bound}"
-            try:
-                conn = self.get_connection(userdn, password)
-            except ldap3.core.exceptions.LDAPBindError as exc:
-                is_bound = False
-                msg += "\n{exc_type}: {exc_msg}".format(
-                    exc_type=exc.__class__.__name__,
-                    exc_msg=exc.args[0] if exc.args else "",
-                )
-            else:
-                is_bound = True if conn.bound else conn.bind()
-            msg = msg.format(username=username, userdn=userdn, is_bound=is_bound)
-            self.log.debug(msg)
-            if is_bound:
+            conn = self.get_connection(userdn, password)
+            if conn:
                 break
-
-        if not is_bound:
-            self.log.warning(f"Invalid password for user '{username}'")
+        if not conn:
+            self.log.warning(f"Failed to bind user '{username}' to a LDAP user.")
             return None
 
         if self.search_filter: