diff --git a/tardis/rest/app/crud.py b/tardis/rest/app/crud.py
index f3b77ab9..d291a58f 100644
--- a/tardis/rest/app/crud.py
+++ b/tardis/rest/app/crud.py
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@
 
 DELETE_USER = "DELETE FROM Users WHERE user_name = ?"
 
+DUMP_USERS = "SELECT user_name, hashed_password, scopes FROM Users"
+
 
 async def get_resource_state(sql_registry, drone_uuid: str):
     sql_query = """
diff --git a/tardis/rest/app/userdb.py b/tardis/rest/app/userdb.py
index 289dc036..4fb2bb9c 100644
--- a/tardis/rest/app/userdb.py
+++ b/tardis/rest/app/userdb.py
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 import sqlite3
 import json
+from typing import Tuple
 
-from .crud import ADD_USER, CREATE_USERS, DELETE_USER, GET_USER
+from .crud import ADD_USER, CREATE_USERS, DELETE_USER, DUMP_USERS, GET_USER
 from .security import DatabaseUser
 
 
@@ -13,26 +14,25 @@ def to_db_user(user: tuple) -> DatabaseUser:
 
 class UserDB:
     def __init__(self, path: str):
-        self.conn = sqlite3.connect(path)
-        self.cur = self.conn.cursor()
+        self.path = path
 
     def try_create_users(self):
         try:
-            self.cur.execute(CREATE_USERS)
+            self.execute(CREATE_USERS)
         except sqlite3.OperationalError as e:
             if str(e) != "table Users already exists":
                 raise e
 
     def drop_users(self):
-        self.conn.execute("DROP TABLE Users")
+        self.execute("DROP TABLE Users")
 
     def add_user(self, user: DatabaseUser):
         try:
-            self.cur.execute(
+            _, conn = self.execute(
                 ADD_USER,
                 (user.user_name, user.hashed_password, json.dumps(user.scopes)),
             )
-            self.conn.commit()
+            conn.commit()
         except sqlite3.IntegrityError as e:
             if str(e) == "UNIQUE constraint failed: Users.user_name":
                 raise Exception("USER EXISTS") from None
@@ -40,11 +40,11 @@ def add_user(self, user: DatabaseUser):
                 raise e
 
     def get_user(self, user_name: str) -> DatabaseUser:
-        self.cur.execute(
+        cur, _ = self.execute(
             GET_USER,
             [user_name],
         )
-        user = self.cur.fetchone()
+        user = cur.fetchone()
 
         if user is None:
             raise Exception("USER NOT FOUND") from None
@@ -52,9 +52,17 @@ def get_user(self, user_name: str) -> DatabaseUser:
         return to_db_user(user)
 
     def dump_users(self):
-        self.cur.execute("SELECT user_name, hashed_password, scopes FROM Users")
-        return self.cur.fetchall()
+        cur, _ = self.execute(DUMP_USERS)
+        return cur.fetchall()
 
     def delete_user(self, user_name: str):
-        self.cur.execute(DELETE_USER, [user_name])
-        self.conn.commit()
+        _, conn = self.execute(DELETE_USER, [user_name])
+        conn.commit()
+
+    def execute(
+        self, sql: str, args: list = []
+    ) -> Tuple[sqlite3.Cursor, sqlite3.Connection]:
+        conn = sqlite3.connect(self.path)
+        cur = conn.cursor()
+        cur.execute(sql, args)
+        return cur, conn
diff --git a/tardis/rest/service.py b/tardis/rest/service.py
index 50f83994..5408719f 100644
--- a/tardis/rest/service.py
+++ b/tardis/rest/service.py
@@ -34,8 +34,10 @@ def __init__(
     def get_user(self, user_name: str) -> Optional[DatabaseUser]:
         try:
             return self._db.get_user(user_name)
-        except:
-            return None
+        except Exception as e:
+            if str(e) == "USER NOT FOUND":
+                return None
+            raise e
 
     def add_user(self, user: DatabaseUser):
         self._db.add_user(user)