What causes "Unknown source-type: ${proto.getSourceType()}" in grpc/grpc-java?

Set source_type to ANY, EXTERNAL, or SAME_IP_OR_LOOPBACK (or omit it to use the default ANY).

grpc/grpc-java · error · ResourceInvalidException

Unknown source-type

Error message

Unknown source-type: ${proto.getSourceType()}

What it means

The FilterChainMatch's source_type field contains a value the gRPC xDS parser does not recognize. Only ANY, EXTERNAL, and SAME_IP_OR_LOOPBACK are mapped; anything else (typically an unrecognized future enum value) causes a ResourceInvalidException.

Solutions

Set source_type to ANY, EXTERNAL, or SAME_IP_OR_LOOPBACK (or omit it to use the default ANY).
Upgrade the gRPC library so it recognizes the enum value your control plane emits.
Downgrade or reconfigure the control plane not to send newer source_type values to older clients.

Example fix

// before
filter_chain_match: { source_type: SOME_NEW_TYPE }
// after
filter_chain_match: { source_type: ANY }

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if (match.getSourceType() != ANY && match.getSourceType() != EXTERNAL
    && match.getSourceType() != SAME_IP_OR_LOOPBACK) {
  throw new IllegalArgumentException("source_type not supported by grpc xds");
}

Try / catch

try { applyResource(listener) } catch (ResourceInvalidException e) { if (e.getMessage().startsWith("Unknown source-type")) fallbackToSourceTypeAny(); }

Prevention

Only emit ANY, EXTERNAL, or SAME_IP_OR_LOOPBACK in source_type
Keep control plane enum knowledge in sync with the gRPC xDS client version
Avoid sending numeric enum values unknown to the client

When it happens

Trigger: FilterChainMatch proto with source_type set to an enum value other than ANY/EXTERNAL/SAME_IP_OR_LOOPBACK (falls through the switch's default in parseFilterChainMatch), usually because the control plane emitted a newer Envoy enum value than this gRPC version understands.

Common situations: Envoy control plane newer than the gRPC xDS client library, manually crafted protos with numeric enum values, or protos deserialized from JSON with an invalid string for source_type.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of grpc/grpc-java@64daddc1f3 (2026-09-08). Data as JSON: /api/errors/12c8d151ecf213e9. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at xds/src/main/java/io/grpc/xds/XdsListenerResource.java:481

            InetAddresses.forString(range.getAddressPrefix()), range.getPrefixLen().getValue()));
      }
    } catch (IllegalArgumentException ex) {
      throw new ResourceInvalidException("Failed to create CidrRange", ex);
    }

    ConnectionSourceType sourceType;
    switch (proto.getSourceType()) {
      case ANY:
        sourceType = ConnectionSourceType.ANY;
        break;
      case EXTERNAL:
        sourceType = ConnectionSourceType.EXTERNAL;
        break;
      case SAME_IP_OR_LOOPBACK:
        sourceType = ConnectionSourceType.SAME_IP_OR_LOOPBACK;
        break;
      default:
        throw new ResourceInvalidException("Unknown source-type: " + proto.getSourceType());
    }
    return FilterChainMatch.create(
        proto.getDestinationPort().getValue(),
        prefixRanges.build(),
        ImmutableList.copyOf(proto.getApplicationProtocolsList()),
        sourcePrefixRanges.build(),
        sourceType,
        ImmutableList.copyOf(proto.getSourcePortsList()),
        ImmutableList.copyOf(proto.getServerNamesList()),
        proto.getTransportProtocol());
  }

  @VisibleForTesting
  static io.grpc.xds.HttpConnectionManager parseHttpConnectionManager(
      HttpConnectionManager proto, FilterRegistry filterRegistry,
      boolean isForClient, XdsResourceType.Args args) throws ResourceInvalidException {
    if (proto.getXffNumTrustedHops() != 0) {
      throw new ResourceInvalidException(

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