diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 3e3763f..8200d70 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ module github.com/pilot-protocol/handshake
 go 1.25.12
 
 require (
-	github.com/pilot-protocol/common v0.5.7
+	github.com/pilot-protocol/common v0.5.9
 	github.com/pilot-protocol/pilotprotocol v1.13.2
 )
 
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index c0b1431..5599793 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 github.com/coder/websocket v1.8.15 h1:6B2JPeOGlpff2Uz6vOEH1Vzpi0iUz20A+lPVhPHtNUA=
 github.com/coder/websocket v1.8.15/go.mod h1:NX3SzP+inril6yawo5CQXx8+fk145lPDC6pumgx0mVg=
-github.com/pilot-protocol/common v0.5.7 h1:GY6KhB+PwV713HAAhVrVEZJN9e5DsnbfElPiOAEpzJE=
-github.com/pilot-protocol/common v0.5.7/go.mod h1:Y6yaOsywr8J4aGvyoyuOtDpwZTheFM7GOjDt6Y/ZB9I=
+github.com/pilot-protocol/common v0.5.9 h1:oCeIxMl8PtJowSU9UfSdzFXQ4s2pxxQBAitsg6P6pm8=
+github.com/pilot-protocol/common v0.5.9/go.mod h1:Ybc6f1A37s3ShoEh1nBMVL9DPyYlxvkqPTvtbxaNWg4=
 github.com/pilot-protocol/pilotprotocol v1.13.2 h1:ZZh+KQtAciX0hIxC111djs4fWCYwzbxIU0WnWoq2uKA=
 github.com/pilot-protocol/pilotprotocol v1.13.2/go.mod h1:eMkx7zGmtktfF4tlksYmLtIbP4DMKNdJITG2SGvVdbQ=
 github.com/pilot-protocol/rendezvous v0.2.5 h1:PvApwKHU2DnvK8pA6K9RAohUomZNu6vX6ccIEoTogvo=
diff --git a/handshake.go b/handshake.go
index ffee263..1c51d78 100644
--- a/handshake.go
+++ b/handshake.go
@@ -500,6 +500,11 @@ func (hm *Manager) Start() error {
 // single bounded Read rather than io.ReadAll so we return as soon as the
 // message bytes land, without waiting for the sender to close the stream.
 func (hm *Manager) handleConnection(stream coreapi.Stream) {
+	defer func() {
+		if r := recover(); r != nil {
+			slog.Error("handshake: recovered from panic in connection handler", "panic", r)
+		}
+	}()
 	const maxMsgSize = 64 * 1024
 
 	type readResult struct {