diff --git a/codec-http2/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/Http2CodecUtil.java b/codec-http2/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/Http2CodecUtil.java
index 90051fc1b7..fd58f2cb1c 100644
--- a/codec-http2/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/Http2CodecUtil.java
+++ b/codec-http2/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/Http2CodecUtil.java
@@ -152,7 +152,15 @@ public final class Http2CodecUtil {
 
         // Create the debug message. `* 3` because UTF-8 max character consumes 3 bytes.
         ByteBuf debugData = ctx.alloc().buffer(cause.getMessage().length() * 3);
-        ByteBufUtil.writeUtf8(debugData, cause.getMessage());
+        boolean shouldRelease = true;
+        try {
+            ByteBufUtil.writeUtf8(debugData, cause.getMessage());
+            shouldRelease = false;
+        } finally {
+            if (shouldRelease) {
+                debugData.release();
+            }
+        }
         return debugData;
     }
 
diff --git a/codec-http2/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/Http2ConnectionHandler.java b/codec-http2/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/Http2ConnectionHandler.java
index 0dfd1ffd28..8e98c3cfcd 100644
--- a/codec-http2/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/Http2ConnectionHandler.java
+++ b/codec-http2/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/Http2ConnectionHandler.java
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ package io.netty.handler.codec.http2;
 
 import io.netty.buffer.ByteBuf;
 import io.netty.buffer.ByteBufUtil;
+import io.netty.buffer.Unpooled;
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelFuture;
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelFutureListener;
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelHandlerContext;
@@ -705,7 +706,13 @@ public class Http2ConnectionHandler extends ByteToMessageDecoder implements Http
      */
     private ChannelFuture goAway(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, Http2Exception cause) {
         long errorCode = cause != null ? cause.error().code() : NO_ERROR.code();
-        ByteBuf debugData = Http2CodecUtil.toByteBuf(ctx, cause);
+        ByteBuf debugData = Unpooled.EMPTY_BUFFER;
+        try {
+            debugData = Http2CodecUtil.toByteBuf(ctx, cause);
+        } catch (Throwable t) {
+            // We must continue on to prevent our internal state from becoming corrupted but we log this exception.
+            logger.warn("caught exception while translating " + cause + " to ByteBuf", t);
+        }
         int lastKnownStream = connection().remote().lastStreamCreated();
         return goAway(ctx, lastKnownStream, errorCode, debugData, ctx.newPromise());
     }