diff --git a/cake/libs/controller/controller.php b/cake/libs/controller/controller.php
index 5fe9bc351..6475aab3b 100644
--- a/cake/libs/controller/controller.php
+++ b/cake/libs/controller/controller.php
@@ -913,6 +913,9 @@ class Controller extends Object {
 		}
 
 		if (isset($options['sort']) && isset($options['direction'])) {
+			if (!in_array(strtolower($options['direction']), array('asc', 'desc'))) {
+				$options['direction'] = 'asc';
+			}
 			$options['order'] = array($options['sort'] => $options['direction']);
 		} elseif (isset($options['sort'])) {
 			$options['order'] = array($options['sort'] => 'asc');
diff --git a/cake/tests/cases/libs/controller/controller.test.php b/cake/tests/cases/libs/controller/controller.test.php
index 9a267eb8a..fea4a48f6 100644
--- a/cake/tests/cases/libs/controller/controller.test.php
+++ b/cake/tests/cases/libs/controller/controller.test.php
@@ -323,6 +323,11 @@ class ControllerTest extends CakeTestCase {
 		$results = Set::extract($Controller->paginate('ControllerPost'), '{n}.ControllerPost.id');
 		$this->assertEqual($Controller->params['paging']['ControllerPost']['page'], 1);
 		$this->assertEqual($results, array(1, 2, 3));
+		
+		$Controller->passedArgs = array('sort' => 'ControllerPost.author_id', 'direction' => 'allYourBase');
+		$results = Set::extract($Controller->paginate('ControllerPost'), '{n}.ControllerPost.id');
+		$this->assertEqual($Controller->ControllerPost->lastQuery['order'][0], array('ControllerPost.author_id' => 'asc'));
+		$this->assertEqual($results, array(1, 3, 2));
 	}
 /**
  * testPaginateExtraParams method