INTERNAL_ERROR
QUIC INTERNAL_ERROR (0x01) is sent when the QUIC implementation encounters an unexpected internal failure that prevents continuing the connection. The error is not attributable to the peer's behavior. This is the QUIC equivalent of HTTP 500 at the transport layer.
Code
0x01
Decimal
1
Standard
RFC 9000 §20
Description
INTERNAL_ERROR indicates a bug or unrecoverable internal state in the QUIC implementation. Unlike protocol violations (0x0a) which blame the peer, INTERNAL_ERROR is self-reported when the implementation itself fails. Practical triggers: an unhandled exception in the QUIC stack, memory allocation failure, a cryptographic primitive returning an unexpected error, or a state machine reaching an unrecoverable inconsistency. The peer should treat this as an unexpected termination and may retry the connection. QUIC implementations should log detailed diagnostics when generating INTERNAL_ERROR since the error code itself gives the peer no actionable information. The QUIC connection-level error handling means INTERNAL_ERROR always closes the entire connection.
Common Causes
- –Unhandled exception in QUIC implementation
- –Memory allocation failure in packet processing
- –Cryptographic primitive failure
- –Internal state machine inconsistency