diff --git a/web3_proxy/src/errors.rs b/web3_proxy/src/errors.rs
index 493d6420..15008438 100644
--- a/web3_proxy/src/errors.rs
+++ b/web3_proxy/src/errors.rs
@@ -98,6 +98,9 @@ pub enum Web3ProxyError {
     #[display(fmt = "{:?}", _0)]
     #[error(ignore)]
     JsonRpcErrorData(JsonRpcErrorData),
+    #[from(ignore)]
+    #[display(fmt = "{}", _0)]
+    MdbxPanic(String, Cow<'static, str>),
     NoBlockNumberOrHash,
     NoBlocksKnown,
     NoConsensusHeadBlock,
@@ -199,6 +202,7 @@ impl Web3ProxyError {
 
     /// turn the error into an axum response.
     /// <https://www.jsonrpc.org/specification#error_object>
+    /// TODO? change to `to_response_parts(self)`
     pub fn as_response_parts(&self) -> (StatusCode, JsonRpcResponseEnum<Arc<RawValue>>) {
         // TODO: include a unique request id in the data
         let (code, err): (StatusCode, JsonRpcErrorData) = match self {
@@ -642,6 +646,20 @@ impl Web3ProxyError {
                 // TODO: do this without clone? the Arc needed it though
                 (StatusCode::OK, jsonrpc_error_data.clone())
             }
+            Self::MdbxPanic(rpc, msg) => {
+                error!(%msg, "mdbx panic");
+
+                // TODO: this is bad enough that we should send something to pager duty
+
+                (
+                    StatusCode::INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR,
+                    JsonRpcErrorData {
+                        message: "mdbx panic".into(),
+                        code: StatusCode::INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR.as_u16().into(),
+                        data: Some(serde_json::Value::String(msg.to_string())),
+                    },
+                )
+            }
             Self::MethodNotFound(method) => {
                 warn!("MethodNotFound: {}", method);
                 (
diff --git a/web3_proxy/src/rpcs/request.rs b/web3_proxy/src/rpcs/request.rs
index 3853431e..96af7c73 100644
--- a/web3_proxy/src/rpcs/request.rs
+++ b/web3_proxy/src/rpcs/request.rs
@@ -383,17 +383,24 @@ impl OpenRequestHandle {
 
                             match error.code {
                                 -32000 => {
-                                    // TODO: regex?
-                                    let archive_prefixes = [
-                                        "header not found",
-                                        "header for hash not found",
-                                        "missing trie node",
-                                    ];
-                                    for prefix in archive_prefixes {
-                                        if error.message.starts_with(prefix) {
-                                            // TODO: what error?
-                                            response = Err(Web3ProxyError::NoBlockNumberOrHash);
-                                            break;
+                                    if error.message.contains("MDBX_PANIC:") {
+                                        response = Err(Web3ProxyError::MdbxPanic(
+                                            self.connection_name(),
+                                            error.message.clone(),
+                                        ));
+                                    } else {
+                                        // TODO: regex?
+                                        let archive_prefixes = [
+                                            "header not found",
+                                            "header for hash not found",
+                                            "missing trie node",
+                                        ];
+                                        for prefix in archive_prefixes {
+                                            if error.message.starts_with(prefix) {
+                                                // TODO: what error?
+                                                response = Err(Web3ProxyError::NoBlockNumberOrHash);
+                                                break;
+                                            }
                                         }
                                     }
                                 }