diff --git a/cabal.project b/cabal.project
index 7d7339a7fb..af664652db 100644
--- a/cabal.project
+++ b/cabal.project
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ constraints: zip +disable-bzip2 +disable-zstd
 source-repository-package
     type: git
     location: https://github.com/simplex-chat/simplexmq.git
-    tag: 681fa93bf342d7c836fa0ff69b767dcd08526f03
+    tag: ec1b72cb8013a65a5d9783104a47ae44f5730089
 
 source-repository-package
     type: git
diff --git a/src/Simplex/Chat/Controller.hs b/src/Simplex/Chat/Controller.hs
index 0598bba8f1..690f78ea4f 100644
--- a/src/Simplex/Chat/Controller.hs
+++ b/src/Simplex/Chat/Controller.hs
@@ -913,7 +913,7 @@ data ChatError
   | ChatErrorAgent {agentError :: AgentErrorType, connectionEntity_ :: Maybe ConnectionEntity}
   | ChatErrorStore {storeError :: StoreError}
   | ChatErrorDatabase {databaseError :: DatabaseError}
-  | ChatErrorRemoteCtrl {remoteControllerError :: RemoteCtrlError}
+  | ChatErrorRemoteCtrl {remoteCtrlError :: RemoteCtrlError}
   | ChatErrorRemoteHost {remoteHostId :: RemoteHostId, remoteHostError :: RemoteHostError}
   deriving (Show, Exception, Generic)
 
diff --git a/src/Simplex/Chat/Remote.hs b/src/Simplex/Chat/Remote.hs
index 4671f43537..82d2e9e630 100644
--- a/src/Simplex/Chat/Remote.hs
+++ b/src/Simplex/Chat/Remote.hs
@@ -132,19 +132,18 @@ startRemoteCtrl =
         uiEvent <- async $ atomically $ readTMVar accepted
         waitEitherCatchCancel listener uiEvent >>= \case
           Left _ -> pure () -- discover got cancelled or crashed on some UDP error
-          Right (Left _) -> pure () -- readTMVar blocked indefinitely (should not happen)
-          Right (Right remoteCtrlId) -> do
+          Right (Left _) -> toView . CRChatError Nothing . ChatError $ CEException "Crashed while waiting for remote session confirmation"
+          Right (Right remoteCtrlId) ->
             -- got connection confirmation
-            (source, fingerprint) <-
-              atomically $
-                TM.lookup remoteCtrlId discovered >>= \case
-                  Nothing -> error "Session accepted without getting registered"
-                  Just found -> found <$ writeTVar discovered mempty -- flush unused sources
-            host <- async $ runRemoteHost remoteCtrlId source fingerprint
-            chatWriteVar remoteCtrlSession $ Just RemoteCtrlSession {ctrlAsync = host, accepted}
-            _ <- waitCatch host
-            chatWriteVar remoteCtrlSession Nothing
-            toView $ CRRemoteCtrlStopped {remoteCtrlId}
+            atomically (TM.lookup remoteCtrlId discovered) >>= \case
+              Nothing -> toView . CRChatError Nothing . ChatError $ CEInternalError "Remote session accepted without getting discovered first"
+              Just (source, fingerprint) -> do
+                atomically $ writeTVar discovered mempty -- flush unused sources
+                host <- async $ runRemoteHost remoteCtrlId source fingerprint
+                chatWriteVar remoteCtrlSession $ Just RemoteCtrlSession {ctrlAsync = host, accepted}
+                _ <- waitCatch host
+                chatWriteVar remoteCtrlSession Nothing
+                toView $ CRRemoteCtrlStopped {remoteCtrlId}
       chatWriteVar remoteCtrlSession $ Just RemoteCtrlSession {ctrlAsync = listener, accepted}
       pure CRRemoteCtrlStarted
 
diff --git a/src/Simplex/Chat/Remote/Types.hs b/src/Simplex/Chat/Remote/Types.hs
index fa9b3fb359..5902476fc1 100644
--- a/src/Simplex/Chat/Remote/Types.hs
+++ b/src/Simplex/Chat/Remote/Types.hs
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 module Simplex.Chat.Remote.Types where
 
 import Control.Concurrent.Async (Async)
-import Data.Aeson (ToJSON)
+import Data.Aeson (ToJSON (..))
 import Data.ByteString.Char8 (ByteString)
 import Data.Int (Int64)
 import Data.Text (Text)
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import GHC.Generics (Generic)
 import qualified Simplex.Messaging.Crypto as C
 import Simplex.Messaging.Transport.HTTP2.Client (HTTP2Client)
 import UnliftIO.STM
+import Simplex.Messaging.Encoding.String (strToJEncoding, strToJSON)
 
 type RemoteHostId = Int64
 
@@ -38,6 +39,11 @@ data RemoteCtrl = RemoteCtrl
   }
   deriving (Show, Generic, ToJSON)
 
+-- XXX: until fixed in master
+instance ToJSON C.KeyHash where
+  toEncoding = strToJEncoding
+  toJSON = strToJSON
+
 data RemoteHostSession = RemoteHostSession
   { -- | Path for local resources to be synchronized with host
     storePath :: FilePath,