An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host (OS error 10054)

Applies to:   SQL Server

Note

Before you start troubleshooting, we recommend that you check the prerequisites and go through the checklist.

This article details various scenarios and provides resolutions for the following errors:

  • A connection was successfully established with the server, but then an error occurred during the login process. (provider: SSL Provider, error: 0 - An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host.)

  • A connection was successfully established with the server, but then an error occurred during the pre-login handshake. (provider: TCP Provider, error: 0 - An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host.)

The operating system error 10054 is raised in the Windows sockets layer. For more information, see Windows Sockets Error Codes: WSAECONNRESET 10054.

When do you see the error?

Secure Channel, also known as Schannel, is a Security Support Provider (SSP). It contains a set of security protocols that provide identity authentication and secure private communication through encryption. One function of Schannel SSP is to implement different versions of the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol. This protocol is an industry standard that's designed to protect the privacy of information communicated over the Internet.

The TLS Handshake Protocol is responsible for the key exchange necessary to establish or resume secure sessions between two applications communicating over TCP. During the pre-login phase of the connection process, SQL Server and client applications use the TLS protocol to establish a secure channel for transmitting credentials.

The following scenarios detail errors that occur when the handshake can't be completed:

Scenario 1: No matching TLS protocols exist between the client and the server

Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and versions of TLS earlier than TLS 1.2 have several known vulnerabilities. You're encouraged to upgrade to TLS 1.2 and disable earlier versions wherever possible. Accordingly, system administrators could push out updates through group policy or other mechanisms to disable these insecure TLS versions on various computers within your environment.

Connectivity errors occur when your application uses an earlier version of Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) driver, OLE DB provider, .NET framework components, or a SQL Server version that doesn't support TLS 1.2. The issue occurs because the server and the client can't find a matching protocol (such as TLS 1.0 or TLS 1.1). A matching protocol is needed to complete the TLS handshake required to proceed with the connection.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, use one of the following methods:

  • Upgrade your SQL Server or your client providers to a version that supports TLS 1.2. For more information, see TLS 1.2 support for Microsoft SQL Server.
  • Ask your system administrators to temporarily enable TLS 1.0 or TLS 1.1 on both the client and the server computers by performing one of the following actions:

Scenario 2: Matching TLS protocols on the client and the server, but no matching TLS cipher suites

This scenario occurs when you or your administrator restricted certain algorithms on the client or the server for extra security.

The client and server TLS versions, cipher suites can be easily examined in the Client Hello and Server Hello packets in a network trace. The Client Hello packet advertises all the client cipher suites, while the Server Hello packet specifies one of them. If there are no matching suites, the server closes the connection instead of responding to the Server Hello packet.

Resolution

To check the issue, follow these steps:

  1. If a network trace isn't available, check the functions value under this registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Cryptography\Configuration\Local\SSL\00010002

    Use the following PowerShell command to find the TLS functions.

    Get-ItemPropertyValue  -Path HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Cryptography\Configuration\Local\SSL\00010002\ -Name Functions
    
  2. Use a tool such as IIS Crypto (Ciphers suites section) to check whether there are any matching algorithms. If no matching algorithms are found, contact Microsoft Support.

For more information, see TLS 1.2 Upgrade Workflow and Transport Layer Security (TLS) connections might fail or timeout when connecting or attempting a resumption.

Scenario 3: SQL Server uses a certificate signed by a weak-hash algorithm, such as MD5, SHA224, or SHA512

SQL Server always encrypts network packets that are related to sign in. For this purpose, it uses a manually provisioned certificate or a self-signed certificate. If SQL Server finds a certificate that supports the server authentication function in the certificate store, it uses the certificate. SQL Server uses this certificate even if it hasn't been manually provisioned. If these certificates use a weak-hash algorithm (thumbprint algorithm) such as MD5, SHA224, or SHA512, they will not work with TLS 1.2 and cause the previously mentioned error.

Note

Self-signed certificates aren't affected by this issue.

Resolution

To resolve the issue, follow these steps:

  1. In SQL Server Configuration Manager, expand SQL Server Network Configuration in the Console pane.
  2. Select Protocols for <instance name>.
  3. Select the Certificate tab and follow the relevant step:
    • If a certificate is displayed, select View to examine the Thumbprint algorithm to confirm whether it's using a weak-hash algorithm. Then, select Clear and go to step 4.
    • If a certificate isn't displayed, review the SQL Server error log for an entry that resembles the following and note down the hash or thumbprint value:
      2017-05-30 14:59:30.89 spid15s The certificate [Cert Hash(sha1) "B3029394BB92AA8EDA0B8E37BAD09345B4992E3D"] was successfully loaded for encryption
  4. Use the following steps to remove server authentication:
    1. Select Start > Run, and type MMC. (MMC also known as the Microsoft Management Console.)
    2. In MMC, open the certificates and select Computer Account in the Certificates snap-in screen.
    3. Expand Personal > Certificates.
    4. Locate the certificate that SQL Server is using by its name or by examining the Thumbprint value of different certificates in the certificate store and open its Properties pane.
    5. On the General tab, select Enable only the following purposes and deselect Server Authentication.
  5. Restart the SQL Server service.

Scenario 4: The client and the server are using TLS_DHE cipher suite for TLS handshake, but one of the systems doesn't have leading zero fixes for the TLS_DHE installed

For more information about this scenario, see Applications experience forcibly closed TLS connection errors when connecting SQL Servers in Windows.

Note

If this article hasn't resolved your issue, you can check if the common connectivity issues articles can help.

Scenario 5: TCP Three-Way Handshake Timeout (SYN Fail, TCP Rejection) due to shortage of IOCP workers

In systems with high workloads on SQL Server 2017 and earlier, you might observe intermittent 10054 error caused by TCP three-way handshake failures, leading to TCP rejections. The root cause of this issue might be in the delay in processing TCPAcceptEx requests. This delay can be due to a shortage of IOCP (Input/Output Completion Port) listener workers responsible for managing the acceptance of incoming connections. The insufficient number of IOCP workers and busy servicing other requests leads to delayed processing of connection requests, ultimately resulting in handshake failures and TCP rejections. You may also observe login timeouts during the start SSL handshake (if any) or the processing of login requests, which involve in authentication checks.

Resolution

A shortage of IOCP workers and SOS Worker resources allocated to handling authentication and encryption operations is the main cause of the TCP three-way handshake timeouts and additional login timeouts. SQL Server 2019 includes several performance improvements in this area. One notable enhancement is the implementation of a dedicated login dispatcher pool. This optimizes the allocation of resources for login-related tasks, which reduces the occurrence of timeouts and improves overall system performance.

See also

Third-party information disclaimer

The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, about the performance or reliability of these products.