# \[Medium\] Issue with multiple Box Services

- Provider: [Box](https://down.guide/providers/box)
- Confidence: Confirmed
- Impact: Partial outage
- lasted 1h 29m
- started 2026-10-20 02:19 UTC
- Content API, Uploads/Downloads, Box Sign +1
- Box states the impact was 2026-10-20 01:44 to 03:32 UTC (1h 48m)
- id: DWN-84990323d8
- Official page: https://stspg.io/cq608909nb7h

## Root cause
> The impact was caused by a focused traffic spike that resulted in increased latencies when accessing some data assets.

Category: Capacity. [Postmortem](https://stspg.io/cq608909nb7h)

## Updates from Box
### 2026-10-20 02:19 UTC: investigating
Our team is investigating an issue with the Public API and Box Sign. Users may see errors or timeouts when attempting to use the Public API or Box Sign. We will provide additional information as it becomes available.

### 2026-10-20 02:33 UTC: investigating
Our team is continuing to investigate an issue with the Public API, Box Sign, and Downloads. We will provide additional information as it becomes available.

### 2026-10-20 03:11 UTC: identified
The issue has been identified and a fix is being implemented.

### 2026-10-20 03:47 UTC: resolved
After further monitoring, this incident is now considered resolved. All Box services have been restored to full functionality. If you continue to experience any issues, please contact Box Support at https://support.box.com.

### 2026-10-27 21:28 UTC: postmortem
On October 19, 2026 between 6:44 PM and 8:32 PM PDT, some customers may have experienced degradation when interacting with our Public API, Downloads, and Box Sign.
The impact was caused by a focused traffic spike that resulted in increased latencies when accessing some data assets. We mitigated the impact by enabling additional targeted caching to relieve the stress on our datastores. Performance of our services returned to normal levels by 8:32 PM PDT.
Analysis
The issue began in an internal service that provides Metadata to other parts of Box. At 6:44 PM PDT, requests for one widely used Template started taking longer than usual to complete. Services that depend on this information automatically retried the slow requests, which increased the number of requests for that Template by more than twice its normal rate.
Once we identified the cause, we began serving the Template from a cache, which reduced the load on the database and restored normal service by 8:32 PM PDT. Background Metadata updates that could not be completed during the incident were processed after service was restored.
After mitigation, we identified how to improve the system so that a temporary slowdown does not cause broader degradation.
Corrective Actions
Box has initiated the following corrective actions:
\* Serving select frequently used Metadata Templates from a cache to reduce load on individual database rows.
\* Updating retry behavior across dependent services so that they backoff more effectively, instead of adding load during a slowdown.
\* Shortening the time requests wait on a slow response so that the system recovers capacity sooner.
\* Increaseing granular observability to detect slowdowns that affect individual Templates.
We are continuously working to improve Box and want to make sure we are delivering the best product and user experience we can. We hope we have provided some clarity here and we would be happy to answer any questions you may still have regarding this matter.
‌
Sincerely, 
The Box Team

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