diff --git a/lib/Cake/Routing/Filter/AssetDispatcher.php b/lib/Cake/Routing/Filter/AssetDispatcher.php
index 1e5d7a6fe..0c91c3cd7 100644
--- a/lib/Cake/Routing/Filter/AssetDispatcher.php
+++ b/lib/Cake/Routing/Filter/AssetDispatcher.php
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 <?php
 /**
- *
- *
  * CakePHP(tm) : Rapid Development Framework (http://cakephp.org)
  * Copyright (c) Cake Software Foundation, Inc. (http://cakefoundation.org)
  *
@@ -38,7 +36,8 @@ class AssetDispatcher extends DispatcherFilter {
  * Checks if a requested asset exists and sends it to the browser
  *
  * @param CakeEvent $event containing the request and response object
- * @return CakeResponse if the client is requesting a recognized asset, null otherwise
+ * @return mixed The resulting response.
+ * @throws NotFoundException When asset not found
  */
 	public function beforeDispatch(CakeEvent $event) {
 		$url = urldecode($event->data['request']->url);
@@ -52,13 +51,19 @@ class AssetDispatcher extends DispatcherFilter {
 		}
 
 		$assetFile = $this->_getAssetFile($url);
-		if ($assetFile === null || !file_exists($assetFile)) {
+		if ($assetFile === null) {
 			return null;
 		}
 
 		$response = $event->data['response'];
 		$event->stopPropagation();
 
+		if (!file_exists($assetFile)) {
+			$response->statusCode(404);
+			$response->send();
+			return $response;
+		}
+
 		$response->modified(filemtime($assetFile));
 		if ($response->checkNotModified($event->data['request'])) {
 			return $response;
diff --git a/lib/Cake/Test/Case/Routing/Filter/AssetDispatcherTest.php b/lib/Cake/Test/Case/Routing/Filter/AssetDispatcherTest.php
index 8fa069aa8..35c261cd8 100644
--- a/lib/Cake/Test/Case/Routing/Filter/AssetDispatcherTest.php
+++ b/lib/Cake/Test/Case/Routing/Filter/AssetDispatcherTest.php
@@ -129,6 +129,23 @@ class AssetDispatcherTest extends CakeTestCase {
 		$this->assertEquals($time->format('D, j M Y H:i:s') . ' GMT', $response->modified());
 	}
 
+/**
+ * Test 404 status code is set on missing asset.
+ *
+ * @return void
+ */
+	public function test404OnMissingFile() {
+		$filter = new AssetDispatcher();
+
+		$response = $this->getMock('CakeResponse', array('_sendHeader'));
+		$request = new CakeRequest('/theme/test_theme/img/nope.gif');
+		$event = new CakeEvent('Dispatcher.beforeRequest', $this, compact('request', 'response'));
+
+		$response = $filter->beforeDispatch($event);
+		$this->assertTrue($event->isStopped());
+		$this->assertEquals(404, $response->statusCode());
+	}
+
 /**
  * Test that no exceptions are thrown for //index.php type URLs.
  *