diff --git a/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpMessageDecoder.java b/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpMessageDecoder.java
index 6ca638d537..a398f07bc9 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpMessageDecoder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpMessageDecoder.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import org.jboss.netty.channel.Channel;
 import org.jboss.netty.channel.ChannelHandlerContext;
 import org.jboss.netty.channel.ChannelPipeline;
 import org.jboss.netty.handler.codec.frame.TooLongFrameException;
+import org.jboss.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpMessageDecoder.State;
 import org.jboss.netty.handler.codec.replay.ReplayingDecoder;
 
 import java.util.List;
@@ -98,7 +99,7 @@ import java.util.List;
  * implement all abstract methods properly.
  * @apiviz.landmark
  */
-public abstract class HttpMessageDecoder extends ReplayingDecoder<HttpMessageDecoder.State> {
+public abstract class HttpMessageDecoder extends ReplayingDecoder<State> {
 
     private final int maxInitialLineLength;
     private final int maxHeaderSize;
@@ -126,7 +127,8 @@ public abstract class HttpMessageDecoder extends ReplayingDecoder<HttpMessageDec
         READ_CHUNKED_CONTENT,
         READ_CHUNKED_CONTENT_AS_CHUNKS,
         READ_CHUNK_DELIMITER,
-        READ_CHUNK_FOOTER
+        READ_CHUNK_FOOTER,
+        UPGRADED
     }
 
     /**
@@ -397,6 +399,18 @@ public abstract class HttpMessageDecoder extends ReplayingDecoder<HttpMessageDec
                 return trailer;
             }
         }
+        case UPGRADED: {
+            int readableBytes = actualReadableBytes();
+            if (readableBytes > 0) {
+                // Keep on consuming as otherwise we may trigger an DecoderException,
+                // other handler will replace this codec with the upgraded protocol codec to
+                // take the traffic over at some point then.
+                // See https://github.com/netty/netty/issues/2173
+                return buffer.readBytes(actualReadableBytes());
+            } else {
+                return null;
+            }
+        }
         default: {
             throw new Error("Shouldn't reach here.");
         }
@@ -439,6 +453,14 @@ public abstract class HttpMessageDecoder extends ReplayingDecoder<HttpMessageDec
         }
         this.message = null;
 
+        if (!isDecodingRequest()) {
+            HttpResponse res = (HttpResponse) message;
+            if (res != null && res.getStatus().getCode() == 101) {
+                checkpoint(State.UPGRADED);
+                return message;
+            }
+        }
+
         checkpoint(State.SKIP_CONTROL_CHARS);
         return message;
     }
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpResponseDecoderTest.java b/src/test/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpResponseDecoderTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d5261c1540
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpResponseDecoderTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2014 The Netty Project
+ *
+ * The Netty Project licenses this file to you under the Apache License,
+ * version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at:
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+ * WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
+ * License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.jboss.netty.handler.codec.http;
+
+import org.jboss.netty.buffer.ChannelBuffers;
+import org.jboss.netty.handler.codec.embedder.DecoderEmbedder;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.*;
+import static org.junit.Assert.*;
+
+public class HttpResponseDecoderTest {
+
+    @Test
+    public void testWebSocketResponse() {
+        byte[] data = ("HTTP/1.1 101 WebSocket Protocol Handshake\r\n" +
+                       "Upgrade: WebSocket\r\n" +
+                       "Connection: Upgrade\r\n" +
+                       "Sec-WebSocket-Origin: http://localhost:8080\r\n" +
+                       "Sec-WebSocket-Location: ws://localhost/some/path\r\n" +
+                       "\r\n" +
+                       "1234567812345678").getBytes();
+        DecoderEmbedder<Object> ch = new DecoderEmbedder<Object>(new HttpResponseDecoder());
+        ch.offer(ChannelBuffers.wrappedBuffer(data));
+
+        HttpResponse res = (HttpResponse) ch.poll();
+        assertThat(res.getProtocolVersion(), sameInstance(HttpVersion.HTTP_1_1));
+        assertThat(res.getStatus(), is(HttpResponseStatus.SWITCHING_PROTOCOLS));
+        assertThat(res.getContent().readableBytes(), is(16));
+
+        assertThat(ch.finish(), is(false));
+
+        assertThat(ch.poll(), is(nullValue()));
+    }
+
+    // See https://github.com/netty/netty/issues/2173
+    @Test
+    public void testWebSocketResponseWithDataFollowing() {
+        byte[] data = ("HTTP/1.1 101 WebSocket Protocol Handshake\r\n" +
+                       "Upgrade: WebSocket\r\n" +
+                       "Connection: Upgrade\r\n" +
+                       "Sec-WebSocket-Origin: http://localhost:8080\r\n" +
+                       "Sec-WebSocket-Location: ws://localhost/some/path\r\n" +
+                       "\r\n" +
+                       "1234567812345678").getBytes();
+        byte[] otherData = {1, 2, 3, 4};
+
+        DecoderEmbedder<Object> ch = new DecoderEmbedder<Object>(new HttpResponseDecoder());
+        ch.offer(ChannelBuffers.wrappedBuffer(data, otherData));
+
+        HttpResponse res = (HttpResponse) ch.poll();
+        assertThat(res.getProtocolVersion(), sameInstance(HttpVersion.HTTP_1_1));
+        assertThat(res.getStatus(), is(HttpResponseStatus.SWITCHING_PROTOCOLS));
+        assertThat(res.getContent().readableBytes(), is(16));
+
+        assertThat(ch.finish(), is(true));
+
+        assertEquals(ch.poll(), ChannelBuffers.wrappedBuffer(otherData));
+    }
+}