diff --git a/utils/netty/src/main/java/org/onlab/netty/MessageDecoder.java b/utils/netty/src/main/java/org/onlab/netty/MessageDecoder.java
index d4832e5..b494ce9 100644
--- a/utils/netty/src/main/java/org/onlab/netty/MessageDecoder.java
+++ b/utils/netty/src/main/java/org/onlab/netty/MessageDecoder.java
@@ -8,11 +8,16 @@
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.List;
 
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+
 /**
  * Decoder for inbound messages.
  */
 public class MessageDecoder extends ReplayingDecoder<DecoderState> {
 
+    private final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(getClass());
+
     private final NettyMessagingService messagingService;
 
     private static final KryoSerializer SERIALIZER = new KryoSerializer();
@@ -57,4 +62,10 @@
             checkState(false, "Must not be here");
         }
     }
+
+    @Override
+    public void exceptionCaught(ChannelHandlerContext context, Throwable cause) {
+        log.error("Exception inside channel handling pipeline.", cause);
+        context.close();
+    }
 }