diff --git a/src/orb/relay.ts b/src/orb/relay.ts
index fe2c06ddec..a2f5be6e26 100644
--- a/src/orb/relay.ts
+++ b/src/orb/relay.ts
@@ -163,7 +163,13 @@ function parseContentLength(header: string | null | undefined): number | null {
   return Number.isInteger(n) && n >= 0 ? n : null;
 }
 
-/** Read the relay-registration JSON with a small hard ceiling; returns null when the sender exceeds it. */
+/** Read the relay-registration JSON with a small hard ceiling; returns null when the sender exceeds it OR when
+ *  the underlying stream itself errors (a dropped connection / network reset mid-read, #orb-broker-500 — every
+ *  caller already treats null identically to "reject this request", so a transient read failure degrades the
+ *  same way an oversized payload does, instead of throwing UNCAUGHT out of this function. Each of this
+ *  function's three route call sites (POST /v1/orb/token, /v1/orb/relay/register, /v1/orb/relay pull) calls it
+ *  BEFORE its own try/catch, so an uncaught throw here previously escaped as a bare framework 500 instead of the
+ *  route's own clean 4xx/503 JSON error response — fixed once here rather than wrapping all three callers. */
 export async function readOrbRelayRegisterBody(request: Request, contentLengthHeader: string | null | undefined): Promise<string | null> {
   const declared = parseContentLength(contentLengthHeader);
   if (declared !== null && declared > MAX_ORB_RELAY_REGISTER_BODY_BYTES) return null;
@@ -174,17 +180,21 @@ export async function readOrbRelayRegisterBody(request: Request, contentLengthHe
   const decoder = new TextDecoder();
   let total = 0;
   let out = "";
-  for (;;) {
-    const { done, value } = await reader.read();
-    if (done) break;
-    total += value.byteLength;
-    if (total > MAX_ORB_RELAY_REGISTER_BODY_BYTES) {
-      await reader.cancel();
-      return null;
+  try {
+    for (;;) {
+      const { done, value } = await reader.read();
+      if (done) break;
+      total += value.byteLength;
+      if (total > MAX_ORB_RELAY_REGISTER_BODY_BYTES) {
+        await reader.cancel();
+        return null;
+      }
+      out += decoder.decode(value, { stream: true });
     }
-    out += decoder.decode(value, { stream: true });
+    return out + decoder.decode();
+  } catch {
+    return null;
   }
-  return out + decoder.decode();
 }
 
 export type RelayEnrollment = { enrollId: string; installationId: number };
diff --git a/test/integration/orb-relay.test.ts b/test/integration/orb-relay.test.ts
index 72e531441a..d8aee540e4 100644
--- a/test/integration/orb-relay.test.ts
+++ b/test/integration/orb-relay.test.ts
@@ -141,6 +141,22 @@ describe("readOrbRelayRegisterBody", () => {
     const req = new Request("http://localhost/r", { method: "POST", body: "x".repeat(MAX_ORB_RELAY_REGISTER_BODY_BYTES + 1) });
     expect(await readOrbRelayRegisterBody(req, null)).toBeNull();
   });
+
+  it("REGRESSION (#orb-broker-500): returns null instead of throwing when the underlying stream errors mid-read", async () => {
+    // Simulates a dropped connection / network reset while GitHub Sentry observed as "Orb broker token exchange
+    // failed (500)" (GITTENSORY-J) — this function is called BEFORE each of its three route call sites' own
+    // try/catch, so an uncaught throw here previously escaped as a bare framework 500 rather than the route's
+    // own clean 4xx/503 JSON response. A first successful chunk (some bytes already arrived) followed by a
+    // stream error is the realistic shape of a mid-read network drop, not an error on the very first read.
+    const stream = new ReadableStream<Uint8Array>({
+      pull(controller) {
+        controller.enqueue(new TextEncoder().encode('{"relayUrl":'));
+        controller.error(new Error("simulated network reset"));
+      },
+    });
+    const req = new Request("http://localhost/r", { method: "POST", body: stream, duplex: "half" } as RequestInit);
+    await expect(readOrbRelayRegisterBody(req, null)).resolves.toBeNull();
+  });
 });
 
 describe("relaySignature", () => {