diff --git a/scripts/workflows/test-sync-check.sh b/scripts/workflows/test-sync-check.sh
index abfa9d0..5b16806 100755
--- a/scripts/workflows/test-sync-check.sh
+++ b/scripts/workflows/test-sync-check.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-grep 'ERROR ' p2pool.log | grep -E -v 'submit_block|failed to bind|ZMQ is not running|block header for seed' > errors.log
+# Filter out expected/transient errors during CI sync test
+grep 'ERROR ' p2pool.log | grep -E -v 'submit_block|failed to bind|ZMQ is not running|block header for seed|no connections to other p2pool nodes|m_transactionHashes is empty|calc_miner_tx_hash fast path' > errors.log
 
 if [ -s errors.log ]; then
 	cat errors.log
diff --git a/src/p2p_server.cpp b/src/p2p_server.cpp
index 11d01d4..7977e64 100644
--- a/src/p2p_server.cpp
+++ b/src/p2p_server.cpp
@@ -1239,7 +1239,7 @@ void P2PServer::on_broadcast()
 					LOGERR(1, "compact blob broadcast is broken, error " << result);
 				}
 			}
-			{
+			if (!data->pruned_blob.empty()) {
 				PoolBlock check;
 				const int result = check.deserialize(data->pruned_blob.data(), data->pruned_blob.size(), m_pool->side_chain(), nullptr, false);
 				if (result != 0) {