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CRE-2025-0036

OpenTelemetry Collector drops data due to 413 Payload Too Large from exporter targetLow
Impact: 6/10
Mitigation: 3/10

CRE-2025-0036View on GitHub

Description

The OpenTelemetry Collector may drop telemetry data when an exporter backend responds with a 413 Payload Too Large error. This typically happens when large batches of metrics, logs, or traces exceed the maximum payload size accepted by the backend. By default, the collector drops these payloads unless retry behavior is explicitly enabled.

Mitigation

- Enable `retry_on_failure` in the relevant exporter config to allow retry logic. - Reduce batch size via `sending_queue` settings or exporter-specific `timeout`/`flush_interval` configurations. - Use upstream sampling or aggregation to reduce payload volume. - Validate backend ingestion limits (e.g., max bytes per request) and align exporter limits accordingly.

References