diff --git a/src/ModelContextProtocol.AspNetCore/StreamableHttpHandler.cs b/src/ModelContextProtocol.AspNetCore/StreamableHttpHandler.cs
index f26e9ed5c..7efaaf593 100644
--- a/src/ModelContextProtocol.AspNetCore/StreamableHttpHandler.cs
+++ b/src/ModelContextProtocol.AspNetCore/StreamableHttpHandler.cs
@@ -187,7 +187,24 @@ await WriteJsonRpcErrorAsync(context,
         }
 
         InitializeSseResponse(context);
-        var wroteResponse = await session.Transport.HandlePostRequestAsync(message, context.Response.Body, onResponseStarting, context.RequestAborted);
+
+        bool wroteResponse;
+        try
+        {
+            wroteResponse = await session.Transport.HandlePostRequestAsync(message, context.Response.Body, onResponseStarting, context.RequestAborted);
+        }
+        catch (JsonException) when (!context.Response.HasStarted)
+        {
+            // The initialize handshake eagerly deserializes its params inside the transport, before the
+            // message reaches the session's JSON-RPC error handling. A structurally valid envelope whose
+            // params are invalid (e.g. a missing required field like clientInfo.version) would otherwise
+            // bubble up as an opaque 500. Surface a conformant JSON-RPC error that echoes the request id.
+            await WriteJsonRpcErrorAsync(context,
+                "Bad Request: The request parameters were invalid.",
+                StatusCodes.Status400BadRequest, (int)McpErrorCode.InvalidParams, requestId);
+            return;
+        }
+
         if (!wroteResponse)
         {
             // We wound up writing nothing, so there should be no Content-Type response header.
diff --git a/tests/ModelContextProtocol.AspNetCore.Tests/StreamableHttpServerConformanceTests.cs b/tests/ModelContextProtocol.AspNetCore.Tests/StreamableHttpServerConformanceTests.cs
index dd051e4d3..e6f2c1864 100644
--- a/tests/ModelContextProtocol.AspNetCore.Tests/StreamableHttpServerConformanceTests.cs
+++ b/tests/ModelContextProtocol.AspNetCore.Tests/StreamableHttpServerConformanceTests.cs
@@ -318,6 +318,24 @@ public async Task PostMalformedJson_Returns400_InvalidRequest_WithNullId()
         Assert.Equal((int)McpErrorCode.InvalidRequest, doc.RootElement.GetProperty("error").GetProperty("code").GetInt32());
     }
 
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task PostInitializeWithMissingRequiredParam_Returns400_InvalidParams_EchoesRequestId()
+    {
+        await StartAsync();
+
+        // A well-formed JSON-RPC envelope whose initialize params omit a required field
+        // (here clientInfo.version) must not surface as an opaque 500. The server should
+        // reject it with a conformant JSON-RPC error (InvalidParams) and echo the request id.
+        using var response = await HttpClient.PostAsync("",
+            JsonContent("""{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":7,"method":"initialize","params":{"protocolVersion":"2025-03-26","capabilities":{},"clientInfo":{"name":"IntegrationTestClient"}}}"""),
+            TestContext.Current.CancellationToken);
+        Assert.Equal(HttpStatusCode.BadRequest, response.StatusCode);
+
+        using var doc = JsonDocument.Parse(await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync(TestContext.Current.CancellationToken));
+        Assert.Equal(7, doc.RootElement.GetProperty("id").GetInt64());
+        Assert.Equal((int)McpErrorCode.InvalidParams, doc.RootElement.GetProperty("error").GetProperty("code").GetInt32());
+    }
+
     [Fact]
     public async Task PostRequestWithExplicitNullId_Returns400_InvalidRequest_WithNullId()
     {