diff --git a/apps/emqx_gateway/src/exproto/emqx_exproto_gsvr.erl b/apps/emqx_gateway/src/exproto/emqx_exproto_gsvr.erl
index 0135aa8e3..04f3dea1c 100644
--- a/apps/emqx_gateway/src/exproto/emqx_exproto_gsvr.erl
+++ b/apps/emqx_gateway/src/exproto/emqx_exproto_gsvr.erl
@@ -22,9 +22,10 @@
 -include("src/exproto/include/emqx_exproto.hrl").
 -include_lib("emqx/include/logger.hrl").
 
-
 -define(IS_QOS(X), (X =:= 0 orelse X =:= 1 orelse X =:= 2)).
 
+-define(DEFAULT_CALL_TIMEOUT, 5000).
+
 %% gRPC server callbacks
 -export([ send/2
         , close/2
@@ -117,18 +118,22 @@ to_pid(ConnStr) ->
     binary_to_term(base64:decode(ConnStr)).
 
 call(ConnStr, Req) ->
-    case catch to_pid(ConnStr) of
-        {'EXIT', {badarg, _}} ->
-            {error, ?RESP_PARAMS_TYPE_ERROR,
-                    <<"The conn type error">>};
-        Pid when is_pid(Pid) ->
-            case erlang:is_process_alive(Pid) of
-                true ->
-                    emqx_gateway_conn:call(Pid, Req);
-                false ->
-                    {error, ?RESP_CONN_PROCESS_NOT_ALIVE,
-                            <<"Connection process is not alive">>}
-            end
+    try
+        Pid = to_pid(ConnStr),
+        emqx_gateway_conn:call(Pid, Req, ?DEFAULT_CALL_TIMEOUT)
+    catch
+        exit : badarg ->
+            {error, ?RESP_PARAMS_TYPE_ERROR, <<"The conn type error">>};
+        exit : noproc ->
+            {error, ?RESP_CONN_PROCESS_NOT_ALIVE,
+             <<"Connection process is not alive">>};
+        exit : timeout ->
+            {error, ?RESP_UNKNOWN, <<"Connection is not answered">>};
+        Class : Reason : Stk->
+            ?LOG(error, "Call ~p crashed: {~0p, ~0p}, "
+                        "stacktrace: ~0p",
+                        [Class, Reason, Stk]),
+            {error, ?RESP_UNKNOWN, <<"Unkwown crashs">>}
     end.
 
 %%--------------------------------------------------------------------