grpc/grpc-java · error · ResourceInvalidException

Invalid address: Empty address is not allowed.

Error message

Invalid address: Empty address is not allowed.

What it means

A server-side Listener must carry a concrete socket address so gRPC knows which port the filters apply to. If address.socket_address.address is present but empty, the Listener is rejected with 'Invalid address: Empty address is not allowed.'

Source

Thrown at xds/src/main/java/io/grpc/xds/XdsListenerResource.java:170

      throw new ResourceInvalidException(
          "Listener " + proto.getName() + " with invalid traffic direction: " + trafficDirection);
    }
    if (!proto.getListenerFiltersList().isEmpty()) {
      throw new ResourceInvalidException(
          "Listener " + proto.getName() + " cannot have listener_filters");
    }
    if (proto.hasUseOriginalDst()) {
      throw new ResourceInvalidException(
          "Listener " + proto.getName() + " cannot have use_original_dst set to true");
    }

    String address = null;
    SocketAddress socketAddress = null;
    if (proto.getAddress().hasSocketAddress()) {
      socketAddress = proto.getAddress().getSocketAddress();
      address = socketAddress.getAddress();
      if (address.isEmpty()) {
        throw new ResourceInvalidException("Invalid address: Empty address is not allowed.");
      }
      switch (socketAddress.getPortSpecifierCase()) {
        case NAMED_PORT:
          throw new ResourceInvalidException("NAMED_PORT is not supported in gRPC.");
        case PORT_VALUE:
          address = address + ":" + socketAddress.getPortValue();
          break;
        default:
          // noop
      }
    }

    ImmutableList.Builder<FilterChain> filterChains = ImmutableList.builder();
    Set<String> filterChainNames = new HashSet<>();
    Set<FilterChainMatch> filterChainMatchSet = new HashSet<>();
    int i = 0;
    for (io.envoyproxy.envoy.config.listener.v3.FilterChain fc : proto.getFilterChainsList()) {
      // May be empty. If it's not empty, required to be unique.

View on GitHub (pinned to 64daddc1f3)

Solutions

1. Set an explicit IP literal (e.g. 0.0.0.0 or the pod IP) in address.socket_address.address on the management server
2. Fix listener-generation logic so every server-side Listener gets a concrete bind address
3. Check whether named_port was intended — gRPC requires port_value and a non-empty address
4. Re-push the corrected Listener so the update is ACKed

Example fix

// before
address { socket_address { protocol: TCP port_value: 9090 } }
// after
address { socket_address { protocol: TCP address: "0.0.0.0" port_value: 9090 } }

// Control-plane side: require a non-empty address and port_value
if (listener.getAddress().hasSocketAddress()) {
  String addr = listener.getAddress().getSocketAddress().getAddress();
  if (addr.isEmpty()) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("Invalid address: Empty address is not allowed.");
  }
}

boolean hasConcreteSocketAddress(io.envoyproxy.envoy.config.listener.v3.Listener listener) {
  return listener.getAddress().hasSocketAddress()
      && !listener.getAddress().getSocketAddress().getAddress().isEmpty();
}

// Client side: detect empty listener addresses from watcher errors
@Override public void onError(Status error) {
  if (error.getDescription().contains("Empty address is not allowed")) {
    logger.log(WARNING, "Listener has empty socket address: " + error.getDescription());
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: A Listener proto has address.socket_address set but its address field is an empty string; parseServerSideListener throws before evaluating port specifiers. (Note: named_port is also rejected separately.)

Common situations: Management server generating listener templates without filling the bind address; hand-written LDS resources with address omitted inside socket_address; configs relying on Envoy's default/empty bind behavior that gRPC does not allow.

Understand the failure class

Background: "must not be empty", "cannot be empty" — required-field validation errors across open-source libraries — this error's family across 41 libraries.

Related errors

• Invalid message type: ${unpackedMessage.getClass()}
• Could not parse HttpConnectionManager config from ApiListene
• Listener ${proto.getName()} with invalid traffic direction:
• Listener ${proto.getName()} cannot have listener_filters
• Listener ${proto.getName()} cannot have use_original_dst set

AI-assisted analysis of grpc/grpc-java@64daddc1f3 (2026-09-08). Data as JSON: /api/errors/26c2d6d919b229f3. Report an issue: GitHub.