diff --git a/sdk_reforge/_sse_connection_manager.py b/sdk_reforge/_sse_connection_manager.py
index 4ead71e..8ad64f1 100644
--- a/sdk_reforge/_sse_connection_manager.py
+++ b/sdk_reforge/_sse_connection_manager.py
@@ -97,7 +97,14 @@ def process_response(self, response: Response) -> None:
                     logger.info("Client is shutting down, exiting SSE event loop")
                     return
                 if event.data:
-                    configs = Prefab.Configs.FromString(base64.b64decode(event.data))
+                    decoded_data = base64.b64decode(event.data)
+                    if not decoded_data or len(decoded_data) == 0:
+                        logger.warning(
+                            "Received zero-byte config payload from SSE stream, treating as connection error"
+                        )
+                        # Return early to trigger reconnection logic
+                        return
+                    configs = Prefab.Configs.FromString(decoded_data)
                     self.config_client.load_configs(configs, "sse_streaming")
             self.sse_client.close()
             self.sse_client = None
diff --git a/sdk_reforge/config_sdk.py b/sdk_reforge/config_sdk.py
index 5fe5c65..6c85a70 100644
--- a/sdk_reforge/config_sdk.py
+++ b/sdk_reforge/config_sdk.py
@@ -165,6 +165,11 @@ def load_checkpoint_from_api_cdn(self):
                 allow_cache=True,
             )
             if response.ok:
+                if not response.content or len(response.content) == 0:
+                    logger.warning(
+                        "Received zero-byte config payload from remote_cdn_api, treating as connection error"
+                    )
+                    return False
                 configs = Prefab.Configs.FromString(response.content)
                 self.load_configs(configs, "remote_api_cdn")
                 return True
diff --git a/tests/test_zero_byte_configs.py b/tests/test_zero_byte_configs.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d75a581
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_zero_byte_configs.py
@@ -0,0 +1,172 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import unittest
+from unittest.mock import Mock, patch, MagicMock
+import base64
+
+from sdk_reforge.config_sdk import ConfigSDK
+from sdk_reforge._sse_connection_manager import SSEConnectionManager
+import prefab_pb2 as Prefab
+
+
+class TestZeroByteConfigHandling(unittest.TestCase):
+    @patch("sdk_reforge.config_sdk.logger")
+    def test_http_config_zero_byte_payload(self, mock_logger: MagicMock) -> None:
+        """Test that zero-byte HTTP config responses are treated as errors"""
+        # Create mock objects
+        mock_api_client = Mock()
+        mock_response = Mock()
+        mock_response.ok = True
+        mock_response.content = b""  # Zero-byte response
+        mock_api_client.resilient_request.return_value = mock_response
+
+        # Create ConfigSDK with mocked dependencies
+        options = Mock()
+        options.api_key = "test_key"
+        config_sdk = ConfigSDK(options)
+        config_sdk.api_client = mock_api_client
+        config_sdk.config_loader = Mock()
+        config_sdk.config_loader.highwater_mark = 123
+
+        # Test that load_checkpoint_from_api_cdn returns False for zero-byte response
+        result = config_sdk.load_checkpoint_from_api_cdn()
+
+        self.assertFalse(result)
+        mock_logger.warning.assert_called_with(
+            "Received zero-byte config payload from remote_cdn_api, treating as connection error"
+        )
+
+    @patch("sdk_reforge.config_sdk.logger")
+    def test_http_config_valid_payload(self, mock_logger: MagicMock) -> None:
+        """Test that valid HTTP config responses are processed normally"""
+        # Create mock objects
+        mock_api_client = Mock()
+        mock_response = Mock()
+        mock_response.ok = True
+
+        # Create a valid Prefab.Configs message
+        configs = Prefab.Configs()
+        config = configs.configs.add()
+        config.key = "test_key"
+        valid_content = configs.SerializeToString()
+        mock_response.content = valid_content
+
+        mock_api_client.resilient_request.return_value = mock_response
+
+        # Create ConfigSDK with mocked dependencies
+        options = Mock()
+        options.api_key = "test_key"
+        config_sdk = ConfigSDK(options)
+        config_sdk.api_client = mock_api_client
+        config_sdk.config_loader = Mock()
+        config_sdk.config_loader.highwater_mark = 123
+        config_sdk.load_configs = Mock()
+
+        # Test that load_checkpoint_from_api_cdn returns True for valid response
+        result = config_sdk.load_checkpoint_from_api_cdn()
+
+        self.assertTrue(result)
+        config_sdk.load_configs.assert_called_once()
+        # Check that the specific zero-byte warning was not called
+        warning_calls = [str(call) for call in mock_logger.warning.call_args_list]
+        self.assertNotIn(
+            "call('Received zero-byte config payload from remote_cdn_api, treating as connection error')",
+            warning_calls,
+        )
+
+    def test_sse_config_zero_byte_payload(self) -> None:
+        """Test that zero-byte SSE config payloads trigger reconnection"""
+        # Create mock objects
+        mock_api_client = Mock()
+        mock_config_client = Mock()
+        mock_config_client.is_shutting_down.return_value = False
+
+        # Create SSEConnectionManager
+        sse_manager = SSEConnectionManager(
+            mock_api_client, mock_config_client, ["https://test.example.com"]
+        )
+
+        # Mock SSE event with a base64 string that will decode to empty bytes
+        # We need a non-empty string that produces empty bytes when decoded
+        # In practice, this would happen when the server sends an empty base64 string
+        # For testing, we'll use a mock that bypasses base64 entirely
+        mock_event = Mock()
+        mock_event.data = "dummy"  # Non-empty string to pass the if check
+
+        mock_sse_client = Mock()
+        mock_sse_client.events.return_value = iter([mock_event])
+        mock_sse_client.close = Mock()
+
+        mock_response = Mock()
+
+        with patch(
+            "sdk_reforge._sse_connection_manager.sseclient.SSEClient",
+            return_value=mock_sse_client,
+        ):
+            with patch(
+                "sdk_reforge._sse_connection_manager.base64.b64decode"
+            ) as mock_b64decode:
+                mock_b64decode.return_value = b""  # Return empty bytes
+                with patch("sdk_reforge._sse_connection_manager.logger") as mock_logger:
+                    # The process_response method should return early on zero-byte payload
+                    sse_manager.process_response(mock_response)
+
+                    # Verify that warning was logged and configs were not loaded
+                    mock_logger.warning.assert_called_with(
+                        "Received zero-byte config payload from SSE stream, treating as connection error"
+                    )
+
+        mock_config_client.load_configs.assert_not_called()
+        # SSE client should not be closed since we returned early
+        mock_sse_client.close.assert_not_called()
+
+    @patch("sdk_reforge._sse_connection_manager.logger")
+    def test_sse_config_valid_payload(self, mock_logger: MagicMock) -> None:
+        """Test that valid SSE config payloads are processed normally"""
+        # Create mock objects
+        mock_api_client = Mock()
+        mock_config_client = Mock()
+        mock_config_client.is_shutting_down.return_value = False
+
+        # Create SSEConnectionManager
+        sse_manager = SSEConnectionManager(
+            mock_api_client, mock_config_client, ["https://test.example.com"]
+        )
+
+        # Create a valid Prefab.Configs message
+        configs = Prefab.Configs()
+        config = configs.configs.add()
+        config.key = "test_key"
+        valid_content = configs.SerializeToString()
+
+        # Mock SSE event with valid payload
+        mock_event = Mock()
+        mock_event.data = base64.b64encode(valid_content).decode("utf-8")
+
+        mock_sse_client = Mock()
+        mock_sse_client.events.return_value = iter([mock_event])
+        mock_sse_client.close = Mock()
+
+        mock_response = Mock()
+
+        with patch(
+            "sdk_reforge._sse_connection_manager.sseclient.SSEClient",
+            return_value=mock_sse_client,
+        ):
+            with patch(
+                "sdk_reforge._sse_connection_manager.Prefab.Configs.FromString"
+            ) as mock_from_string:
+                mock_from_string.return_value = configs
+                sse_manager.process_response(mock_response)
+
+        # Verify that configs were loaded and no warning was logged
+        mock_config_client.load_configs.assert_called_once_with(
+            configs, "sse_streaming"
+        )
+        mock_logger.warning.assert_not_called()
+        # SSE client should be closed after successful processing
+        mock_sse_client.close.assert_called_once()
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    unittest.main()