diff --git a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/modules/network/HeaderUtil.java b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/modules/network/HeaderUtil.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2f2d72bb90
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/modules/network/HeaderUtil.java
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) Facebook, Inc. and its affiliates.
+ *
+ * This source code is licensed under the MIT license found in the
+ * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
+ */
+
+package com.facebook.react.modules.network;
+
+/**
+ *
+ * The class purpose is to weaken too strict OkHttp restriction on http headers.
+ * See: https://github.com/square/okhttp/issues/2016
+ * Auth headers might have an Authentication information. It is better to get 401 from the
+ * server in this case, rather than non descriptive error as 401 could be handled to invalidate
+ * the wrong token in the client code.
+ */
+public class HeaderUtil {
+
+    public static String stripHeaderName(String name) {
+        StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder(name.length());
+        boolean modified = false;
+        for (int i = 0, length = name.length(); i < length; i++) {
+            char c = name.charAt(i);
+            if (c > '\u0020' && c < '\u007f') {
+                builder.append(c);
+            } else {
+                modified = true;
+            }
+        }
+        return modified ? builder.toString() : name;
+    }
+
+    public static String stripHeaderValue(String value) {
+        StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder(value.length());
+        boolean modified = false;
+        for (int i = 0, length = value.length(); i < length; i++) {
+            char c = value.charAt(i);
+            if ((c > '\u001f' && c < '\u007f') || c == '\t' ) {
+               builder.append(c);
+            } else {
+                modified = true;
+            }
+        }
+        return modified ? builder.toString() : value;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/modules/network/NetworkingModule.java b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/modules/network/NetworkingModule.java
index 209ead5a39..cbae1f0fbb 100644
--- a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/modules/network/NetworkingModule.java
+++ b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/modules/network/NetworkingModule.java
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ package com.facebook.react.modules.network;
 import android.net.Uri;
 import android.util.Base64;
 
+import com.facebook.common.logging.FLog;
 import com.facebook.react.bridge.Arguments;
 import com.facebook.react.bridge.GuardedAsyncTask;
 import com.facebook.react.bridge.ReactApplicationContext;
@@ -104,6 +105,7 @@ public final class NetworkingModule extends ReactContextBaseJavaModule {
 
   protected static final String NAME = "Networking";
 
+  private static final String TAG = "NetworkingModule";
   private static final String CONTENT_ENCODING_HEADER_NAME = "content-encoding";
   private static final String CONTENT_TYPE_HEADER_NAME = "content-type";
   private static final String REQUEST_BODY_KEY_STRING = "string";
@@ -234,10 +236,29 @@ public final class NetworkingModule extends ReactContextBaseJavaModule {
   }
 
   @ReactMethod
+  public void sendRequest(
+      String method,
+      String url,
+      final int requestId,
+      ReadableArray headers,
+      ReadableMap data,
+      final String responseType,
+      final boolean useIncrementalUpdates,
+      int timeout,
+      boolean withCredentials) {
+    try {
+      sendRequestInternal(method, url, requestId, headers, data, responseType,
+        useIncrementalUpdates, timeout, withCredentials);
+    } catch (Throwable th) {
+      FLog.e(TAG, "Failed to send url request: " + url, th);
+      ResponseUtil.onRequestError(getEventEmitter(), requestId, th.getMessage(), th);
+    }
+  }
+
   /**
    * @param timeout value of 0 results in no timeout
    */
-  public void sendRequest(
+  public void sendRequestInternal(
       String method,
       String url,
       final int requestId,
@@ -720,8 +741,8 @@ public final class NetworkingModule extends ReactContextBaseJavaModule {
       if (header == null || header.size() != 2) {
         return null;
       }
-      String headerName = header.getString(0);
-      String headerValue = header.getString(1);
+      String headerName = HeaderUtil.stripHeaderName(header.getString(0));
+      String headerValue = HeaderUtil.stripHeaderValue(header.getString(1));
       if (headerName == null || headerValue == null) {
         return null;
       }
diff --git a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/modules/network/ResponseUtil.java b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/modules/network/ResponseUtil.java
index f163ae7746..9ad7bffdac 100644
--- a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/modules/network/ResponseUtil.java
+++ b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/modules/network/ResponseUtil.java
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ public class ResponseUtil {
     RCTDeviceEventEmitter eventEmitter,
     int requestId,
     String error,
-    IOException e) {
+    Throwable e) {
     WritableArray args = Arguments.createArray();
     args.pushInt(requestId);
     args.pushString(error);
diff --git a/ReactAndroid/src/test/java/com/facebook/react/modules/network/HeaderUtilTest.java b/ReactAndroid/src/test/java/com/facebook/react/modules/network/HeaderUtilTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..10e52ddc54
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ReactAndroid/src/test/java/com/facebook/react/modules/network/HeaderUtilTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) Facebook, Inc. and its affiliates.
+ *
+ * This source code is licensed under the MIT license found in the
+ * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
+ */
+
+package com.facebook.react.modules.network;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+
+public class HeaderUtilTest {
+  public static final String TABULATION_TEST = "\teyJhbGciOiJS\t";
+  public static final String TABULATION_STRIP_EXPECTED = "eyJhbGciOiJS";
+  public static final String NUMBERS_TEST = "0123456789";
+  public static final String SPECIALS_TEST = "!@#$%^&*()-=_+{}[]\\|;:'\",.<>/?";
+  public static final String ALPHABET_TEST = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIGKLMNOPQRSTUVWHYZ";
+  public static final String VALUE_BANNED_SYMBOLS_TEST = "���name�����������\u007f\u001f";
+  public static final String NAME_BANNED_SYMBOLS_TEST = "���name�����������\u007f\u0020\u001f";
+  public static final String BANNED_TEST_EXPECTED = "name";
+
+  @Test
+  public void nameStripKeepsLetters() {
+    assertEquals(ALPHABET_TEST, HeaderUtil.stripHeaderName(ALPHABET_TEST));
+
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void valueStripKeepsLetters() {
+    assertEquals(ALPHABET_TEST, HeaderUtil.stripHeaderValue(ALPHABET_TEST));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void nameStripKeepsNumbers() {
+    assertEquals(NUMBERS_TEST, HeaderUtil.stripHeaderName(NUMBERS_TEST));
+
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void valueStripKeepsNumbers() {
+    assertEquals(NUMBERS_TEST, HeaderUtil.stripHeaderValue(NUMBERS_TEST));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void valueStripKeepsSpecials() {
+    assertEquals(SPECIALS_TEST, HeaderUtil.stripHeaderValue(SPECIALS_TEST));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void nameStripKeepsSpecials() {
+    assertEquals(SPECIALS_TEST, HeaderUtil.stripHeaderName(SPECIALS_TEST));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void valueStripKeepsTabs() {
+    assertEquals(TABULATION_TEST, HeaderUtil.stripHeaderValue(TABULATION_TEST));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void nameStripDeletesTabs() {
+    assertEquals(TABULATION_STRIP_EXPECTED, HeaderUtil.stripHeaderName(TABULATION_TEST));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void valueStripRemovesExtraSymbols() {
+    assertEquals(BANNED_TEST_EXPECTED, HeaderUtil.stripHeaderValue(VALUE_BANNED_SYMBOLS_TEST));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void nameStripRemovesExtraSymbols() {
+    assertEquals(BANNED_TEST_EXPECTED, HeaderUtil.stripHeaderName(NAME_BANNED_SYMBOLS_TEST));
+  }
+
+}