invalid page in block N of relation …

SQLSTATE XX001 condition data_corrupted class XX — Internal Error severity ERROR

Reproduced & verified on PostgreSQL 14.23, 15.18, 16.14, 17.10 and 18.4 — identical message on every version.

Last reviewed 30 May 2025 · Reproduced live with the SQL on this page.

Symptoms

PostgreSQL read a data block whose page header failed validation — the page contents are not a valid PostgreSQL page. This indicates data corruption and raises SQLSTATE XX001 (data_corrupted).

The page header/checksum did not validate.
A strong signal of on-disk corruption.
Queries touching the affected block fail.

What the server log shows

ERROR:  invalid page in block 1234 of relation base/16384/24576

Why PostgreSQL raises this — what the manual says

Section 30.2 Data Checksums:

“Data pages are checksummed by default, and full page images recorded in WAL records are always checksum protected.”

Before using a page, PostgreSQL validates its header (and checksum if enabled). A page that fails this check is treated as corrupt and the read is aborted with XX001 to avoid acting on bad data.

Common causes

Storage/hardware faults writing or returning bad blocks.
OS or filesystem corruption.
A crash with disabled fsync or unsafe write caches.

How to fix it

Back up the data directory immediately; do not write more to the cluster.
Investigate hardware/filesystem; enable data checksums on future clusters.
Restore from backup/PITR; as a last resort, advanced recovery with zero_damaged_pages (data loss) under expert guidance.

Related & next steps

Reference: PostgreSQL 18 Section 30.2 “Reliability”.