Intermittent Upstream Connection Close or Server Side Errors Occur After Okta Access Gateway Upgrade to 2026.8 and Later

After upgrading Okta Access Gateway (OAG) to version 2026.8 or later, intermittent upstream connection close or server side (500s) errors occur. This happens because the underlying Nginx server no longer sends a connection close header by default. Resolve this error by updating the application policies in the user interface to explicitly close the connection.

• Okta Access Gateway (OAG) 2026.8 and later
• Okta Identity Engine (OIE)
• Okta Classic Engine

Starting in OAG 2026.8, the underlying Nginx server upgrades from version 1.27.1.2 to 1.31.1.1. In this version, Nginx no longer sends a connection: close header to the upstream server, which enables keep-alive by default. This change causes intermittent upstream connection closures or server side (500s) errors in some environments.

What resolves the upstream connection error?

Update the application policies in the OAG user interface to include the connection close header.

1. Navigate to the application policies in the OAG Admin user interface.
2. Add the following configuration in root (and all) policies under Advanced directives:

   proxy_set_header Connection "close";