The expected behavior would be that the server returns 422 as it does when supplying an invalid Etag.
It can be reproduced the following way:
Create a 0-byte file to upload:
$ touch empty
Upload it with some random md5 sum supplied:
$ swift -A http://localhost:8888/auth/v1.0 -U images:imagesrw -K imagesrw upload images empty --header "Etag: 6b7a7293dd92d246a2570388b1462319"
Object PUT failed: http://localhost:8888/v1/AUTH_images/images/empty 503 Service Unavailable [first 60 chars of response] <html><h1>Service Unavailable</h1><p>The server is currently
Lots of errors show up in the proxy-server log:
2015-11-16T11:11:35 dev proxy-server: 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 16/Nov/2015/11/11/35 GET /auth/v1.0 HTTP/1.0 200 - python-swiftclient-2.6.0 - - - - tx0e0a825ac6c346a29a2d3-005649b9e7 - 0.0006 - - 1447672295.847012997 1447672295.847630978 -
2015-11-16T11:11:35 dev proxy-server: 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 16/Nov/2015/11/11/35 PUT /v1/AUTH_images/images HTTP/1.0 202 - python-swiftclient-2.6.0 AUTH_tk36a5f2643... - 76 - tx959c397a2c734286b2315-005649b9e7 - 0.0137 - - 1447672295.854751110 1447672295.868436098 0
2015-11-16T11:11:35 dev proxy-server: 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 16/Nov/2015/11/11/35 GET /auth/v1.0 HTTP/1.0 200 - python-swiftclient-2.6.0 - - - - tx6d339f5a1b15424e91c1c-005649b9e7 - 0.0004 - - 1447672295.889205933 1447672295.889605045 -
2015-11-16T11:11:35 dev proxy-server: 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 16/Nov/2015/11/11/35 HEAD /v1/AUTH_images/images/empty HTTP/1.0 404 - python-swiftclient-2.6.0 AUTH_tk36a5f2643... - - - txe3dae922b49f46a88438e-005649b9e7 - 0.0056 - - 1447672295.892796993 1447672295.898364067 0
2015-11-16T11:11:35 dev proxy-server: Object PUT returning 503, 0/1 required connections (txn: txdfc1aacc666d49b6b86b8-005649b9e7) (client_ip: 127.0.0.1)
2015-11-16T11:11:35 dev proxy-server: 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 16/Nov/2015/11/11/35 PUT /v1/AUTH_images/images/empty HTTP/1.0 503 - python-swiftclient-2.6.0 AUTH_tk36a5f2643... - 118 6b7a7293dd92d246a2570388b1462319 txdfc1aacc666d49b6b86b8-005649b9e7 - 0.0043 - - 1447672295.905363083 1447672295.909631968 0
2015-11-16T11:11:36 dev proxy-server: Object PUT returning 503, 0/1 required connections (txn: tx749197fc56a744da94956-005649b9e8) (client_ip: 127.0.0.1)
2015-11-16T11:11:36 dev proxy-server: 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 16/Nov/2015/11/11/36 PUT /v1/AUTH_images/images/empty HTTP/1.0 503 - python-swiftclient-2.6.0 AUTH_tk36a5f2643... - 118 6b7a7293dd92d246a2570388b1462319 tx749197fc56a744da94956-005649b9e8 - 0.0095 - - 1447672296.912669897 1447672296.922164917 0
2015-11-16T11:11:38 dev proxy-server: Object PUT returning 503, 0/1 required connections (txn: tx2381c76b54e849ce94a8c-005649b9ea) (client_ip: 127.0.0.1)
2015-11-16T11:11:38 dev proxy-server: 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 16/Nov/2015/11/11/38 PUT /v1/AUTH_images/images/empty HTTP/1.0 503 - python-swiftclient-2.6.0 AUTH_tk36a5f2643... - 118 6b7a7293dd92d246a2570388b1462319 tx2381c76b54e849ce94a8c-005649b9ea - 0.0079 - - 1447672298.926242113 1447672298.934129953 0
2015-11-16T11:11:42 dev proxy-server: Object PUT returning 503, 0/1 required connections (txn: tx20a12f2b3d1f4e02b9256-005649b9ee) (client_ip: 127.0.0.1)
2015-11-16T11:11:42 dev proxy-server: 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 16/Nov/2015/11/11/42 PUT /v1/AUTH_images/images/empty HTTP/1.0 503 - python-swiftclient-2.6.0 AUTH_tk36a5f2643... - 118 6b7a7293dd92d246a2570388b1462319 tx20a12f2b3d1f4e02b9256-005649b9ee - 0.0054 - - 1447672302.940390110 1447672302.945750952 0
2015-11-16T11:11:50 dev proxy-server: Object PUT returning 503, 0/1 required connections (txn: txf58401614cc444d8a0e0c-005649b9f6) (client_ip: 127.0.0.1)
2015-11-16T11:11:50 dev proxy-server: 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 16/Nov/2015/11/11/50 PUT /v1/AUTH_images/images/empty HTTP/1.0 503 - python-swiftclient-2.6.0 AUTH_tk36a5f2643... - 118 6b7a7293dd92d246a2570388b1462319 txf58401614cc444d8a0e0c-005649b9f6 - 0.0055 - - 1447672310.956351042 1447672310.961829901 0
2015-11-16T11:12:06 dev proxy-server: Object PUT returning 503, 0/1 required connections (txn: tx75e10ae3659b493990248-005649ba06) (client_ip: 127.0.0.1)
2015-11-16T11:12:06 dev proxy-server: 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 16/Nov/2015/11/12/06 PUT /v1/AUTH_images/images/empty HTTP/1.0 503 - python-swiftclient-2.6.0 AUTH_tk36a5f2643... - 118 6b7a7293dd92d246a2570388b1462319 tx75e10ae3659b493990248-005649ba06 - 0.0081 - - 1447672326.981029034 1447672326.989166021 0
Fails for me on master (currently c03d53a) with a replication storage policy; passes with an EC one.