[Medium] Issue with Uploads

Final update

We recently addressed issues affecting file uploads and other write operations within Box. We would like to take the opportunity to further explain these issues and the steps we have taken to keep them from happening in the future. Between 02:03 PM and 02:24 PM PDT on August 24, 2026, some users may have experienced difficulties while working in Box. During this time, users saw elevated error rates and reduced availability for uploads and other write-oriented actions. The issue occurred when a background user-cleanup process generated a sudden surge of database update activity that was amplified by an unbounded retry loop, which overloaded a database shard and exhausted connection capacity. We restored normal service by applying a rate limit to the cleanup traffic and stopping the offending cleanup workload. After traffic subsided, we removed the temporary limits once systems were stable. In addition, we are making changes to limit background cleanup traffic and improve retry behavior to reduce the chance of recurrence. # Analysis Following this incident, we are now improving how similar types of background jobs are managed and retried, and making adjustments to better prioritize c

1. Postmortem · Aug 30, 22:37 UTC
   We recently addressed issues affecting file uploads and other write operations within Box. We would like to take the opportunity to further explain these issues and the steps we have taken to keep them from happening in the future. Between 02:03 PM and 02:24 PM PDT on August 24, 2026, some users may have experienced difficulties while working in Box. During this time, users saw elevated error rates and reduced availability for uploads and other write-oriented actions. The issue occurred when a background user-cleanup process generated a sudden surge of database update activity that was amplified by an unbounded retry loop, which overloaded a database shard and exhausted connection capacity. We restored normal service by applying a rate limit to the cleanup traffic and stopping the offending cleanup workload. After traffic subsided, we removed the temporary limits once systems were stable. In addition, we are making changes to limit background cleanup traffic and improve retry behavior to reduce the chance of recurrence. # Analysis Following this incident, we are now improving how similar types of background jobs are managed and retried, and making adjustments to better prioritize customer-facing operations over these tasks. Specifically, during this issue, rapid retry cycles amplified service friction, highlighting areas where additional safeguards can further protect against similar issues occurring again in the future. We are also reviewing rollout and feature-flag practice
2. Resolved · Aug 24, 22:03 UTC
   After further monitoring, this incident is now considered resolved. If you continue to experience any issues, please contact Box Support at https://support.box.com.
3. Monitoring · Aug 24, 21:29 UTC
   Our team has taken steps to remediate this issue and is seeing improvement for the Upload service. We are continuing to monitor for any additional impact.
4. Monitoring · Aug 24, 21:29 UTC
   Our team is investigating an issue with Uploads. Users may see errors or slowness when attempting to upload items to Box. We will provide additional information as it becomes available.
5. Identified · Aug 24, 21:29 UTC
   Our team has taken steps to remediate this issue and is seeing improvement for the Upload service. We are continuing to monitor for any additional impact.
6. Identified · Aug 24, 21:26 UTC
   Our team has identified the underlying cause of this issue and is working to take remediating steps. We will provide additional updates as they become available.
7. Investigating · Aug 24, 21:21 UTC
   Our team is investigating an issue with Uploads. Users may see errors or slowness when attempting to upload items to Box. We will provide additional information as it becomes available.