diff --git a/src/session.c b/src/session.c
index ed55ca4dc..76bc8f399 100644
--- a/src/session.c
+++ b/src/session.c
@@ -232,7 +232,9 @@ int session_accept(struct listener *l, int cfd, struct sockaddr_storage *addr)
  out_close:
 	if (ret < 0 && l->xprt == &raw_sock && p->mode == PR_MODE_HTTP) {
 		/* critical error, no more memory, try to emit a 500 response */
-		struct chunk *err_msg = http_error_message(s, HTTP_ERR_500);
+		struct chunk *err_msg = &p->errmsg[HTTP_ERR_500];
+		if (!err_msg->str)
+			err_msg = &http_err_chunks[HTTP_ERR_500];
 		send(cfd, err_msg->str, err_msg->len, MSG_DONTWAIT|MSG_NOSIGNAL);
 	}