New exception_injector.py — standalone pure-Python-stdlib Modbus/TCP server shipped alongside the pymodbus image. Speaks the wire protocol directly (MBAP header parse + FC 01/02/03/04/05/06/15/16 dispatch + store-backed happy-path reads/writes + spec-enforced length caps) and looks up each (fc, starting-address) against a rules list loaded from JSON; a matching rule makes the server respond [fc|0x80, exception_code] instead of the normal response. Zero runtime dependencies outside the stdlib — the Dockerfile just COPY's the script into /fixtures/ alongside the pymodbus profile JSONs, no new pip install needed. ~200 lines. New exception_injection.json profile carries rules for every exception code on FC03 (addresses 1000-1007, one per code), FC06 (2000-2001 for CPU-PROGRAM-mode and busy), and FC16 (3000 for server failure). New exception_injection compose profile binds :5020 like every other service + runs python /fixtures/exception_injector.py --config /fixtures/exception_injection.json.
New ExceptionInjectionTests.cs in Modbus.IntegrationTests — 11 tests. Eight FC03-read theories exercise every exception code 0x01/0x02/0x03/0x04/0x05/0x06/0x0A/0x0B asserting the driver's expected OPC UA StatusCode mapping (BadNotSupported/BadOutOfRange/BadOutOfRange/BadDeviceFailure/BadDeviceFailure/BadDeviceFailure/BadCommunicationError/BadCommunicationError). Two FC06-write theories cover the write path for 0x04 (Server Failure, CPU in PROGRAM mode) + 0x06 (Server Busy). One sanity-check read at address 5 confirms the injector isn't globally broken + non-injected reads round-trip cleanly with Value=5/StatusCode=Good. All tests follow the MODBUS_SIM_PROFILE=exception_injection skip guard so they no-op on a fresh clone without Docker running.
Docker/README.md gains an §Exception injection section explaining what pymodbus can and cannot emit, what the injector does, where the rules live, and how to append new ones. docs/drivers/Modbus-Test-Fixture.md follow-up item #2 (extend pymodbus profiles to inject exceptions) gets a shipped strikethrough with the new coverage inventory; the unit-level section adds ExceptionInjectionTests next to DL205ExceptionCodeTests so the split-of-responsibilities is explicit (DL205 test = natural out-of-range via dl205 profile, ExceptionInjectionTests = every other code via the injector).
Test baselines: Modbus unit 182/182 green (unchanged); Modbus integration with exception_injection profile live 11/11 new tests green. Existing DL205/S7/Mitsubishi integration tests unaffected since they skip on MODBUS_SIM_PROFILE mismatch.
Found + fixed during validation: a stale native pymodbus simulator from April 18 was still listening on port 5020 on IPv6 localhost (Windows was load-balancing between it + the Docker IPv4 forward, making injected exceptions intermittently come back as pymodbus's default 0x02). Killed the leftover. Documented the debugging path in the commit as a note for anyone who hits the same "my tests see exception 0x02 but the injector log has no request" symptom.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
