HiveError: Could not read value from box - when using http_cache_hive_store + dio_cache_interceptor (Android & iOS)

[aradhwan]

Summary

When using dio_cache_interceptor with http_cache_hive_store, our app intermittently crashes on both Android and iOS with:

HiveError: Could not read value from box. Maybe your box is corrupted.

Disabling HTTP caching (i.e., removing http_cache_hive_store) makes the issue disappear. Because the error occurs while dio_cache_interceptor calls into http_cache_hive_store (which depends on hive_ce), I’m filing this here first.

---

Affected packages / versions

• dio_cache_interceptor: 4.0.3
• http_cache_hive_store: 5.0.1
• hive_ce: 2.13.2
• dio: 5.9.0
• Flutter: 3.35.5
• Dart: 3.9.2

---

Platforms

• ✅ Android (production): crashes observed
• ✅ iOS (production): crashes observed

---

Minimal setup (representative)

final dio = Dio();

final cacheStore = HiveCacheStore(
  (await getApplicationDocumentsDirectory()).path,
  // encryptionKey: null (not using encryption)
  // hiveBoxName: 'dio_cache' (default)
);

final cacheOptions = CacheOptions(
      store: cacheStore,
      policy: CachePolicy.request,
      hitCacheOnErrorCodes: [401, 403],
      hitCacheOnNetworkFailure: false,
      maxStale: const Duration(minutes: 10),
      priority: CachePriority.normal,
      cipher: null,
      keyBuilder: CacheOptions.defaultCacheKeyBuilder,
      allowPostMethod: false,
    );

dio.interceptors.add(DioCacheInterceptor(options: cacheOptions));

// Typical request:
final res = await dio.get('https://example.com/api/...');
// Crashes appear when reads hit cache path.

---

Crash logs (highlights)

Android (Firebase Crashlytics)

Fatal Exception: io.flutter.plugins.firebase.crashlytics.FlutterError: HiveError: Could not read value from box. Maybe your box is corrupted.
  at StorageBackendVm.readValue.<fn>(storage_backend_vm.dart:165)
  at _AsyncCompleter.complete (dart:async)
  at ReadWriteSync.syncRead (read_write_sync.dart:16)
  at LazyBoxImpl.get (lazy_box_impl.dart:28)
  at _DioCacheInterceptorUtils._loadCacheResponse (dio_cache_interceptor_cache_utils.dart:51)
  at DioCacheInterceptor.onRequest (dio_cache_interceptor.dart:47)

iOS (Firebase Crashlytics)

Fatal Exception: FlutterError
0  StorageBackendVm.readValue.<fn> + 165 (storage_backend_vm.dart:165)
1  _AsyncCompleter.complete (dart:async)
2  ReadWriteSync.syncRead + 16 (read_write_sync.dart:16)
3  LazyBoxImpl.get + 28 (lazy_box_impl.dart:28)
4  _DioCacheInterceptorUtils._loadCacheResponse + 51 (dio_cache_interceptor_cache_utils.dart:51)
5  DioCacheInterceptor.onRequest + 47 (dio_cache_interceptor.dart:47)

Full crash reports are attached:
Android_issue_stacktrace.txt
iOS_issue_stacktrace.txt

---

Steps to reproduce (as observed)

1. Initialize Dio with DioCacheInterceptor and HiveCacheStore (see code above).
2. Make GET requests that should be cached.
3. After normal usage (including app background/foreground cycles), a subset of users hit a crash on the read path inside the cache store.
4. Removing/Disabling caching eliminates the crash.

---

Expected behavior

Reading from the cache store should not throw HiveError. If a box is corrupted, the store should either:

• surface a recoverable signal (so the app can evict/ignore the bad entry), or
• handle corruption internally by evicting the problematic key/box and continuing gracefully.

---

Actual behavior

HiveError: Could not read value from box. Maybe your box is corrupted. bubbles up while DioCacheInterceptor tries to _loadCacheResponse, causing a production crash on both Android and iOS.

---

Frequency / impact

• Observed across multiple sessions/devices in production.
• Intermittent, but recurring enough to impact users.

---

Things we’ve tried

• Disabling caching → no crashes.
• Ensured single initialization of the cache store.
• Not using encryption for cache boxes.
• Changing box name / clearing cache on cold start.

---

Checklist

• Bug occurs on Android
• Bug occurs on iOS
• Only occurs when http_cache_hive_store is enabled
• Call chain: DioCacheInterceptor → http_cache_hive_store → hive_ce
• Crash logs included

[llfbandit]

Thanks for the report.

Do you initialize Hive with crashRecovery parameter set to false?
I use it myself for a pro project and had never such issue...

I need to dig into the code to see if events could be fired on failed r/w operations.
As a workaround you could wrap the interceptor with your own and deal with those errors.