What it means
Cloudflare sent a TCP connection request, but the origin server didn't respond within about 15 seconds or didn't acknowledge the connection. The server is overloaded, unreachable, or a firewall is silently dropping packets.
Most common causes
- An overloaded origin server.
- A firewall silently dropping packets from Cloudflare's IPs.
- A wrong origin IP in DNS.
- Network problems or KeepAlive disabled on the origin.
What you can do as a visitor
- Wait and refresh the page later.
What the site owner or developer should do
- Check server load (CPU, RAM, number of connections).
- Allow Cloudflare's IP ranges and make sure they aren't being rate-limited.
- Check that the origin IP in DNS is correct.
- Enable KeepAlive on the web server.
Impact on SEO and Google
Recurring 522s mean the site is unreachable for Googlebot, putting your indexing at risk.
Frequently asked questions
How long does Cloudflare wait?
About 15 seconds to establish the TCP connection.
Can a DDoS cause a 522?
It can, but most often the cause is an overloaded server or a firewall.