diff --git a/server/server.go b/server/server.go
index 3ff0ece08..194d5bb4d 100644
--- a/server/server.go
+++ b/server/server.go
@@ -417,7 +417,9 @@ func createQueryResolver(
 
 func (s *Server) registerDNSHandlers(ctx context.Context) {
 	wrappedOnRequest := func(w dns.ResponseWriter, request *dns.Msg) {
-		s.OnRequest(ctx, w, request)
+		ip, proto := resolveClientIPAndProtocol(w.RemoteAddr())
+
+		s.OnRequest(ctx, w, ip, proto, request)
 	}
 
 	for _, server := range s.dnsServers {
@@ -550,25 +552,6 @@ func (s *Server) Stop(ctx context.Context) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func createResolverRequest(rw dns.ResponseWriter, request *dns.Msg) *model.Request {
-	var hostName string
-
-	var remoteAddr net.Addr
-
-	if rw != nil {
-		remoteAddr = rw.RemoteAddr()
-	}
-
-	clientIP, protocol := resolveClientIPAndProtocol(remoteAddr)
-	con, ok := rw.(dns.ConnectionStater)
-
-	if ok && con.ConnectionState() != nil {
-		hostName = con.ConnectionState().ServerName
-	}
-
-	return newRequest(clientIP, protocol, extractClientIDFromHost(hostName), request)
-}
-
 func extractClientIDFromHost(hostName string) string {
 	const clientIDPrefix = "id-"
 	if strings.HasPrefix(hostName, clientIDPrefix) && strings.Contains(hostName, ".") {
@@ -578,12 +561,13 @@ func extractClientIDFromHost(hostName string) string {
 	return ""
 }
 
-func newRequest(clientIP net.IP, protocol model.RequestProtocol,
-	requestClientID string, request *dns.Msg,
+func newRequest(
+	clientIP net.IP, clientID string,
+	protocol model.RequestProtocol, request *dns.Msg,
 ) *model.Request {
 	return &model.Request{
 		ClientIP:        clientIP,
-		RequestClientID: requestClientID,
+		RequestClientID: clientID,
 		Protocol:        protocol,
 		Req:             request,
 		Log: log.Log().WithFields(logrus.Fields{
@@ -595,13 +579,23 @@ func newRequest(clientIP net.IP, protocol model.RequestProtocol,
 }
 
 // OnRequest will be executed if a new DNS request is received
-func (s *Server) OnRequest(ctx context.Context, w dns.ResponseWriter, request *dns.Msg) {
+func (s *Server) OnRequest(
+	ctx context.Context, w dns.ResponseWriter,
+	clientIP net.IP, protocol model.RequestProtocol,
+	request *dns.Msg,
+) {
 	logger().Debug("new request")
 
-	r := createResolverRequest(w, request)
+	var hostName string
+
+	con, ok := w.(dns.ConnectionStater)
+	if ok && con.ConnectionState() != nil {
+		hostName = con.ConnectionState().ServerName
+	}
 
-	response, err := s.queryResolver.Resolve(ctx, r)
+	req := newRequest(clientIP, extractClientIDFromHost(hostName), protocol, request)
 
+	response, err := s.resolve(ctx, req)
 	if err != nil {
 		logger().Error("error on processing request:", err)
 
@@ -610,17 +604,40 @@ func (s *Server) OnRequest(ctx context.Context, w dns.ResponseWriter, request *d
 		err := w.WriteMsg(m)
 		util.LogOnError("can't write message: ", err)
 	} else {
-		response.Res.MsgHdr.RecursionAvailable = request.MsgHdr.RecursionDesired
+		err := w.WriteMsg(response.Res)
+		util.LogOnError("can't write message: ", err)
+	}
+}
 
-		// truncate if necessary
-		response.Res.Truncate(getMaxResponseSize(r))
+func (s *Server) resolve(ctx context.Context, request *model.Request) (*model.Response, error) {
+	var response *model.Response
 
-		// enable compression
-		response.Res.Compress = true
+	switch {
+	case len(request.Req.Question) == 0:
+		m := new(dns.Msg)
+		m.SetRcode(request.Req, dns.RcodeFormatError)
 
-		err := w.WriteMsg(response.Res)
-		util.LogOnError("can't write message: ", err)
+		request.Log.Error("query has no questions")
+
+		response = &model.Response{Res: m, RType: model.ResponseTypeCUSTOMDNS, Reason: "CUSTOM DNS"}
+	default:
+		var err error
+
+		response, err = s.queryResolver.Resolve(ctx, request)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
 	}
+
+	response.Res.MsgHdr.RecursionAvailable = request.Req.MsgHdr.RecursionDesired
+
+	// truncate if necessary
+	response.Res.Truncate(getMaxResponseSize(request))
+
+	// enable compression
+	response.Res.Compress = true
+
+	return response, nil
 }
 
 // returns EDNS UDP size or if not present, 512 for UDP and 64K for TCP
diff --git a/server/server_endpoints.go b/server/server_endpoints.go
index cca9ba60c..55cc06f95 100644
--- a/server/server_endpoints.go
+++ b/server/server_endpoints.go
@@ -147,9 +147,9 @@ func (s *Server) processDohMessage(rawMsg []byte, rw http.ResponseWriter, req *h
 		clientID = extractClientIDFromHost(req.Host)
 	}
 
-	r := newRequest(util.HTTPClientIP(req), model.RequestProtocolTCP, clientID, msg)
+	r := newRequest(util.HTTPClientIP(req), clientID, model.RequestProtocolTCP, msg)
 
-	resResponse, err := s.queryResolver.Resolve(req.Context(), r)
+	resResponse, err := s.resolve(req.Context(), r)
 	if err != nil {
 		logAndResponseWithError(err, "unable to process query: ", rw)
 
@@ -173,9 +173,9 @@ func (s *Server) Query(
 	ctx context.Context, serverHost string, clientIP net.IP, question string, qType dns.Type,
 ) (*model.Response, error) {
 	dnsRequest := util.NewMsgWithQuestion(question, qType)
-	r := newRequest(clientIP, model.RequestProtocolTCP, extractClientIDFromHost(serverHost), dnsRequest)
+	r := newRequest(clientIP, extractClientIDFromHost(serverHost), model.RequestProtocolTCP, dnsRequest)
 
-	return s.queryResolver.Resolve(ctx, r)
+	return s.resolve(ctx, r)
 }
 
 func createHTTPSRouter(cfg *config.Config) *chi.Mux {