diff --git a/lib/Cake/Controller/Component/PaginatorComponent.php b/lib/Cake/Controller/Component/PaginatorComponent.php
index dcefbe703..c7a0201dc 100644
--- a/lib/Cake/Controller/Component/PaginatorComponent.php
+++ b/lib/Cake/Controller/Component/PaginatorComponent.php
@@ -121,7 +121,8 @@ class PaginatorComponent extends Component {
  * @param Model|string $object Model to paginate (e.g: model instance, or 'Model', or 'Model.InnerModel')
  * @param string|array $scope Additional find conditions to use while paginating
  * @param array $whitelist List of allowed fields for ordering. This allows you to prevent ordering
- *   on non-indexed, or undesirable columns.
+ *   on non-indexed, or undesirable columns. See PaginatorComponent::validateSort() for additional details 
+ *   on how the whitelisting and sort field validation works.
  * @return array Model query results
  * @throws MissingModelException
  * @throws NotFoundException
@@ -351,6 +352,9 @@ class PaginatorComponent extends Component {
  * You can use the whitelist parameter to control which columns/fields are available for sorting.
  * This helps prevent users from ordering large result sets on un-indexed values.
  *
+ * Any columns listed in the sort whitelist will be implicitly trusted. You can use this to sort
+ * on synthetic columns, or columns added in custom find operations that may not exist in the schema.
+ *
  * @param Model $object The model being paginated.
  * @param array $options The pagination options being used for this request.
  * @param array $whitelist The list of columns that can be used for sorting. If empty all keys are allowed.
@@ -370,10 +374,14 @@ class PaginatorComponent extends Component {
 
 		if (!empty($whitelist) && isset($options['order']) && is_array($options['order'])) {
 			$field = key($options['order']);
-			if (!in_array($field, $whitelist)) {
+			$inWhitelist = in_array($field, $whitelist, true);
+			if (!$inWhitelist) {
 				$options['order'] = null;
 				return $options;
 			}
+			if ($inWhitelist) {
+				return $options;
+			}
 		}
 
 		if (!empty($options['order']) && is_array($options['order'])) {
diff --git a/lib/Cake/Test/Case/Controller/Component/PaginatorComponentTest.php b/lib/Cake/Test/Case/Controller/Component/PaginatorComponentTest.php
index 42778a494..df0cc9b21 100644
--- a/lib/Cake/Test/Case/Controller/Component/PaginatorComponentTest.php
+++ b/lib/Cake/Test/Case/Controller/Component/PaginatorComponentTest.php
@@ -933,6 +933,23 @@ class PaginatorComponentTest extends CakeTestCase {
 		$this->assertNull($result['order']);
 	}
 
+/**
+ * test that fields in the whitelist are not validated
+ *
+ * @return void
+ */
+	public function testValidateSortWhitelistTrusted() {
+		$model = $this->getMock('Model');
+		$model->alias = 'model';
+		$model->expects($this->never())->method('hasField');
+
+		$options = array('sort' => 'body', 'direction' => 'asc');
+		$result = $this->Paginator->validateSort($model, $options, array('body'));
+
+		$expected = array('body' => 'asc');
+		$this->assertEquals($expected, $result['order']);
+	}
+
 /**
  * test that virtual fields work.
  *