fix(bigquery): avoid SSLError retry loop

packages/google-cloud-bigquery/google/cloud/bigquery/client.py

@@ -4012,15 +4012,22 @@ def insert_rows_json(
         path = "%s/insertAll" % table.path
         # We can always retry, because every row has an insert ID.
         span_attributes = {"path": path}
-        response = self._call_api(
-            retry,
-            span_name="BigQuery.insertRowsJson",
-            span_attributes=span_attributes,
-            method="POST",
-            path=path,
-            data=data,
-            timeout=timeout,
-        )
+        try:
+            response = self._call_api(
+                retry,
+                span_name="BigQuery.insertRowsJson",
+                span_attributes=span_attributes,
+                method="POST",
+                path=path,
+                data=data,
+                timeout=timeout,
+            )
+        except requests.exceptions.SSLError as exc:
+            msg = (
+                "An SSL/Connection error occurred while streaming rows. This "
+                "could be due to an invalid request (e.g., invalid table schema)."
+            )
+            raise requests.exceptions.SSLError(msg) from exc
         errors = []
 
         for error in response.get("insertErrors", ()):

packages/google-cloud-bigquery/google/cloud/bigquery/retry.py

@@ -67,6 +67,9 @@ def _should_retry(exc):
     We retry if and only if the 'reason' is in _RETRYABLE_REASONS or is
     in _UNSTRUCTURED_RETRYABLE_TYPES.
     """
+    if isinstance(exc, requests.exceptions.SSLError):
+        return False
+
     try:
         reason = exc.errors[0]["reason"]
     except (AttributeError, IndexError, TypeError, KeyError):

packages/google-cloud-bigquery/tests/system/test_ssl_retry.py

@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+# Copyright 2026 Google LLC
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+import time
+from unittest import mock
+
+import pytest
+import requests.exceptions
+from google.api_core import exceptions as core_exceptions
+from google.cloud import bigquery
+
+def test_insert_rows_json_ssl_error_no_retry(bigquery_client, dataset_id):
+    """
+    Verify that SSLError during insert_rows_json is NOT retried and
+    propagates a descriptive error message immediately.
+    """
+    table_id = f"{dataset_id}.test_ssl_retry_{int(time.time())}"
+    schema = [bigquery.SchemaField("name", "STRING")]
+    table = bigquery.Table(table_id, schema=schema)
+    bigquery_client.create_table(table)
+
+    # We mock the api_request to simulate the GFE abruptly closing the connection
+    # which manifests as a requests.exceptions.SSLError.
+    original_api_request = bigquery_client._connection.api_request
+    call_count = 0
+
+    def mock_api_request(*args, **kwargs):
+        nonlocal call_count
+        call_count += 1
+        raise requests.exceptions.SSLError("EOF occurred in violation of protocol")
+
+    with mock.patch.object(bigquery_client._connection, "api_request", side_effect=mock_api_request):
+        # Use a reasonably short deadline for the test, although it should fail on the first attempt anyway.
+        retry = bigquery.DEFAULT_RETRY.with_deadline(5.0)
+
+        start_time = time.time()
+        with pytest.raises(requests.exceptions.SSLError) as excinfo:
+            bigquery_client.insert_rows_json(
+                table, 
+                [{"name": "test"}],
+                retry=retry
+            )
+        duration = time.time() - start_time
+
+    # Verification:
+    # 1. It should NOT have retried (total calls should be 1)
+    assert call_count == 1
+
+    # 2. It should have failed quickly (much less than the 5s deadline)
+    assert duration < 2.0
+
+    # 3. The error message should contain our descriptive wrapping
+    assert "invalid table schema" in str(excinfo.value)
+    assert "SSL/Connection error occurred" in str(excinfo.value)
+
+    # Cleanup
+    bigquery_client.delete_table(table_id)

packages/google-cloud-bigquery/tests/unit/test_client.py

@@ -6753,6 +6753,38 @@ def test_insert_rows_w_wrong_arg(self):
         with self.assertRaises(TypeError):
             client.insert_rows_json(table, ROW)
 
+    def test_insert_rows_json_w_ssl_error(self):
+        from google.cloud.bigquery.dataset import DatasetReference
+        from google.cloud.bigquery.schema import SchemaField
+        from google.cloud.bigquery.table import Table
+        import requests.exceptions
+
+        PROJECT = "PROJECT"
+        DS_ID = "DS_ID"
+        TABLE_ID = "TABLE_ID"
+        ROWS = [{"full_name": "Bhettye Rhubble", "age": "27", "joined": None}]
+
+        creds = _make_credentials()
+        client = self._make_one(project=PROJECT, credentials=creds, _http=object())
+        conn = client._connection = make_connection({})
+
+        # Make the connection raise an SSLError
+        conn.api_request.side_effect = requests.exceptions.SSLError("EOF occurred")
+
+        table_ref = DatasetReference(PROJECT, DS_ID).table(TABLE_ID)
+        schema = [
+            SchemaField("full_name", "STRING", mode="REQUIRED"),
+            SchemaField("age", "INTEGER", mode="REQUIRED"),
+            SchemaField("joined", "TIMESTAMP", mode="NULLABLE"),
+        ]
+        table = Table(table_ref, schema=schema)
+
+        with self.assertRaises(requests.exceptions.SSLError) as context:
+            client.insert_rows_json(table, ROWS)
+
+        self.assertIn("invalid table schema", str(context.exception))
+        self.assertIn("SSL/Connection error occurred", str(context.exception))
+
     def test_list_partitions(self):
         from google.cloud.bigquery.table import Table
 

packages/google-cloud-bigquery/tests/unit/test_retry.py

@@ -51,6 +51,10 @@ def test_w_unstructured_requests_connectionerror(self):
         exc = requests.exceptions.ConnectionError()
         self.assertTrue(self._call_fut(exc))
 
+    def test_w_unstructured_requests_sslerror(self):
+        exc = requests.exceptions.SSLError()
+        self.assertFalse(self._call_fut(exc))
+
     def test_w_unstructured_requests_chunked_encoding_error(self):
         exc = requests.exceptions.ChunkedEncodingError()
         self.assertTrue(self._call_fut(exc))