diff --git a/Lib/test/test_urllib.py b/Lib/test/test_urllib.py
index 4579c479d14..294ed5e06a2 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_urllib.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_urllib.py
@@ -122,6 +122,15 @@ class urlopen_HttpTests(unittest.TestCase):
         finally:
             self.unfakehttp()
 
+    def test_empty_socket(self):
+        """urlopen() raises IOError if the underlying socket does not send any
+        data. (#1680230) """
+        self.fakehttp('')
+        try:
+            self.assertRaises(IOError, urllib.urlopen, 'http://something')
+        finally:
+            self.unfakehttp()
+
 class urlretrieve_FileTests(unittest.TestCase):
     """Test urllib.urlretrieve() on local files"""
 
diff --git a/Lib/urllib.py b/Lib/urllib.py
index 9fbb19a4198..963187cfb27 100644
--- a/Lib/urllib.py
+++ b/Lib/urllib.py
@@ -326,6 +326,10 @@ class URLopener:
         if data is not None:
             h.send(data)
         errcode, errmsg, headers = h.getreply()
+        if errcode == -1:
+            # something went wrong with the HTTP status line
+            raise IOError, ('http protocol error', 0,
+                            'got a bad status line', None)
         fp = h.getfile()
         if errcode == 200:
             return addinfourl(fp, headers, "http:" + url)
@@ -413,6 +417,10 @@ class URLopener:
             if data is not None:
                 h.send(data)
             errcode, errmsg, headers = h.getreply()
+            if errcode == -1:
+                # something went wrong with the HTTP status line
+                raise IOError, ('http protocol error', 0,
+                                'got a bad status line', None)
             fp = h.getfile()
             if errcode == 200:
                 return addinfourl(fp, headers, "https:" + url)
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index d94b0f79acc..379899444e2 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -205,6 +205,10 @@ Extension Modules
 Library
 -------
 
+- Bug #767111: fix long-standing bug in urllib which caused an
+  AttributeError instead of an IOError when the server's response didn't
+  contain a valid HTTP status line.
+
 - Patch #1449244: Support Unicode strings in
   email.message.Message.{set_charset,get_content_charset}.