diff --git a/src/bentoml/_internal/server/http/traffic.py b/src/bentoml/_internal/server/http/traffic.py
index a4f53346386..4744f7ca9c1 100644
--- a/src/bentoml/_internal/server/http/traffic.py
+++ b/src/bentoml/_internal/server/http/traffic.py
@@ -33,7 +33,15 @@ async def _send(message: ext.ASGIMessage) -> None:
                 waiter.set_result(None)
             await send(message)
 
+        def _on_done(_fut: asyncio.Future[Any]) -> None:
+            # Unblock the waiter when the app finishes without sending (e.g. an
+            # unhandled exception), so we can propagate the error immediately
+            # instead of waiting for the full traffic timeout.
+            if not waiter.done():
+                waiter.set_result(None)
+
         fut = asyncio.ensure_future(self.app(scope, receive, _send), loop=loop)
+        fut.add_done_callback(_on_done)
 
         try:
             await waiter
@@ -46,6 +54,10 @@ async def _send(message: ext.ASGIMessage) -> None:
                     status_code=504,
                 )
                 await resp(scope, receive, send)
+            else:
+                # Request finished in the timeout race; propagate any exception
+                # or drain a successful completion instead of returning empty.
+                await fut
         else:
             await fut  # wait for the future to finish
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/_internal/server/http/test_traffic.py b/tests/unit/_internal/server/http/test_traffic.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..84024119a5d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/_internal/server/http/test_traffic.py
@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import asyncio
+import time
+
+import pytest
+from starlette.applications import Starlette
+from starlette.middleware import Middleware
+from starlette.responses import JSONResponse
+from starlette.routing import Route
+
+from bentoml._internal.server.http.traffic import TimeoutMiddleware
+
+
+async def _asgi_call(app, path: str) -> tuple[float, list[dict], BaseException | None]:
+    messages: list[dict] = []
+
+    async def receive():
+        return {"type": "http.request", "body": b"", "more_body": False}
+
+    async def send(message):
+        messages.append(message)
+
+    scope = {
+        "type": "http",
+        "asgi": {"version": "3.0"},
+        "http_version": "1.1",
+        "method": "GET",
+        "scheme": "http",
+        "path": path,
+        "raw_path": path.encode(),
+        "query_string": b"",
+        "headers": [],
+        "client": ("127.0.0.1", 123),
+        "server": ("127.0.0.1", 80),
+    }
+    started = time.perf_counter()
+    error: BaseException | None = None
+    try:
+        await app(scope, receive, send)
+    except BaseException as exc:
+        error = exc
+    return time.perf_counter() - started, messages, error
+
+
+def _response_status(messages: list[dict]) -> int | None:
+    for message in messages:
+        if message["type"] == "http.response.start":
+            return message["status"]
+    return None
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_timeout_middleware_propagates_errors_before_response() -> None:
+    # Regression: unhandled errors before any ASGI send used to wait for the full
+    # traffic timeout and then return with no response body at all.
+    async def boom(_request):
+        raise RuntimeError("boom")
+
+    app = Starlette(
+        routes=[Route("/boom", boom)],
+        middleware=[Middleware(TimeoutMiddleware, timeout=0.5)],
+    )
+
+    elapsed, messages, error = await _asgi_call(app, "/boom")
+
+    assert elapsed < 0.4
+    assert _response_status(messages) == 500
+    # Starlette may re-raise after emitting the 500 for server-side logging.
+    assert error is None or isinstance(error, RuntimeError)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_timeout_middleware_returns_504_when_request_exceeds_timeout() -> None:
+    async def slow(_request):
+        await asyncio.sleep(1.0)
+        return JSONResponse({"ok": True})
+
+    app = Starlette(
+        routes=[Route("/slow", slow)],
+        middleware=[Middleware(TimeoutMiddleware, timeout=0.1)],
+    )
+
+    elapsed, messages, error = await _asgi_call(app, "/slow")
+
+    assert error is None
+    assert _response_status(messages) == 504
+    assert elapsed < 0.5
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_timeout_middleware_allows_successful_responses() -> None:
+    async def ok(_request):
+        return JSONResponse({"ok": True})
+
+    app = Starlette(
+        routes=[Route("/ok", ok)],
+        middleware=[Middleware(TimeoutMiddleware, timeout=0.5)],
+    )
+
+    elapsed, messages, error = await _asgi_call(app, "/ok")
+
+    assert error is None
+    assert _response_status(messages) == 200
+    assert elapsed < 0.2