diff --git a/src/opnsense/mvc/app/controllers/OPNsense/Core/Api/SystemController.php b/src/opnsense/mvc/app/controllers/OPNsense/Core/Api/SystemController.php
index ea19b9680..d86bf5c96 100644
--- a/src/opnsense/mvc/app/controllers/OPNsense/Core/Api/SystemController.php
+++ b/src/opnsense/mvc/app/controllers/OPNsense/Core/Api/SystemController.php
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ class SystemController extends ApiControllerBase
                 }
             }
 
-            $response = json_encode($statuses);
+            $response = $statuses;
         }
 
         return $response;
@@ -241,7 +241,7 @@ class SystemController extends ApiControllerBase
                 : gettext('Click to check for updates.'),
         ];
 
-        return json_encode($response);
+        return $response;
     }
 
     public function systemTimeAction()
@@ -258,7 +258,7 @@ class SystemController extends ApiControllerBase
             'config' => $last_change,
         ];
 
-        return json_encode($response);
+        return $response;
     }
 
     public function systemResourcesAction()
@@ -293,7 +293,7 @@ class SystemController extends ApiControllerBase
             $result['memory']['used'] = gettext('N/A');
         }
 
-        return json_encode($result);
+        return $result;
     }
 
     public function systemDiskAction()
@@ -320,6 +320,6 @@ class SystemController extends ApiControllerBase
             }
         }
 
-        return json_encode($result);
+        return $result;
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/opnsense/mvc/app/controllers/OPNsense/Diagnostics/Api/CpuUsageController.php b/src/opnsense/mvc/app/controllers/OPNsense/Diagnostics/Api/CpuUsageController.php
index 71c11aba3..68073f408 100644
--- a/src/opnsense/mvc/app/controllers/OPNsense/Diagnostics/Api/CpuUsageController.php
+++ b/src/opnsense/mvc/app/controllers/OPNsense/Diagnostics/Api/CpuUsageController.php
@@ -41,14 +41,12 @@ class CpuUsageController extends ApiControllerBase
     {
         $sysctls = json_decode((new Backend())->configdRun('system sysctl values hw.model,kern.smp.cpus,kern.smp.cores'), true);
 
-        return json_encode(
-            sprintf(
-                gettext('%s (%s cores, %s threads)'),
-                $sysctls['hw.model'],
-                $sysctls['kern.smp.cpus'],
-                $sysctls['kern.smp.cores']
-            )
-        );
+        return [sprintf(
+            gettext('%s (%s cores, %s threads)'),
+            $sysctls['hw.model'],
+            $sysctls['kern.smp.cpus'],
+            $sysctls['kern.smp.cores']
+        )];
     }
 
     public function streamAction()