diff -r 67a02e79b7a1 -r 6a8498291606 src/main/java/de/uapcore/lightpit/AbstractLightPITServlet.java
--- a/src/main/java/de/uapcore/lightpit/AbstractLightPITServlet.java	Sat May 16 15:11:07 2020 +0200
+++ b/src/main/java/de/uapcore/lightpit/AbstractLightPITServlet.java	Sat May 16 15:45:06 2020 +0200
@@ -324,13 +324,28 @@
         }
 
         // set some internal request attributes
+        final String fullPath = Functions.fullPath(req);
         req.setAttribute(Constants.REQ_ATTR_BASE_HREF, Functions.baseHref(req));
-        req.setAttribute(Constants.REQ_ATTR_PATH, Functions.fullPath(req));
+        req.setAttribute(Constants.REQ_ATTR_PATH, fullPath);
         Optional.ofNullable(moduleInfo).ifPresent((proxy) -> req.setAttribute(Constants.REQ_ATTR_MODULE_INFO, proxy));
 
+        // if this is an error path, bypass the normal flow
+        if (fullPath.startsWith("/error/")) {
+            final var mapping = findMapping(method, req);
+            if (mapping.isPresent()) {
+                forwardAsSpecified(invokeMapping(mapping.get(), req, resp, null), req, resp);
+            }
+            return;
+        }
+
         // obtain a connection and create the data access objects
         final var db = (DatabaseFacade) req.getServletContext().getAttribute(DatabaseFacade.SC_ATTR_NAME);
-        try (final var connection = db.getDataSource().getConnection()) {
+        final var ds = db.getDataSource();
+        if (ds == null) {
+            resp.sendError(HttpServletResponse.SC_SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE, "JNDI DataSource lookup failed. See log for details.");
+            return;
+        }
+        try (final var connection = ds.getConnection()) {
             final var dao = createDataAccessObjects(connection);
             try {
                 connection.setAutoCommit(false);