diff --git a/RELEASE_NOTES.txt b/RELEASE_NOTES.txt
index 8486ce0a5..c0a55ad22 100644
--- a/RELEASE_NOTES.txt
+++ b/RELEASE_NOTES.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 Changes since 4.3 ALPHA1
 -------------------
+* [HTTPCLIENT-1317] InetAddressUtils should handle IPv6 Addresses with Embedded IPv4 Addresses 
+  Contributed Sebastian Bazley <sebb at apache.org>.
 
 * [HTTPCLIENT-1320] SSLSocketFactory#createSystemSSLContext causes UnrecoverableKeyException 
   'Password verification failed' when a truststore is specified with 'javax.net.ssl.trustStore' 
diff --git a/httpclient/src/main/java/org/apache/http/conn/util/InetAddressUtils.java b/httpclient/src/main/java/org/apache/http/conn/util/InetAddressUtils.java
index 707dc4cc6..bb9189d84 100644
--- a/httpclient/src/main/java/org/apache/http/conn/util/InetAddressUtils.java
+++ b/httpclient/src/main/java/org/apache/http/conn/util/InetAddressUtils.java
@@ -42,9 +42,14 @@ public class InetAddressUtils {
     private InetAddressUtils() {
     }
 
+    private static final String IPV4_BASIC_PATTERN_STRING = 
+            "(([0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|1[0-9]{2}|2[0-4][0-9]|25[0-5])\\.){3}([0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|1[0-9]{2}|2[0-4][0-9]|25[0-5])";
+
     private static final Pattern IPV4_PATTERN =
-        Pattern.compile(
-                "^(([0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|1[0-9]{2}|2[0-4][0-9]|25[0-5])\\.){3}([0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|1[0-9]{2}|2[0-4][0-9]|25[0-5])$");
+        Pattern.compile("^" + IPV4_BASIC_PATTERN_STRING + "$");
+
+    private static final Pattern IPV4_MAPPED_IPV6_PATTERN = // TODO does not allow for redundant leading zeros
+            Pattern.compile("^::[fF]{4}:" + IPV4_BASIC_PATTERN_STRING + "$");
 
     private static final Pattern IPV6_STD_PATTERN =
         Pattern.compile(
@@ -58,6 +63,10 @@ public class InetAddressUtils {
         return IPV4_PATTERN.matcher(input).matches();
     }
 
+    public static boolean isIPv4MappedIPv64Address(final String input) {
+        return IPV4_MAPPED_IPV6_PATTERN.matcher(input).matches();
+    }
+
     public static boolean isIPv6StdAddress(final String input) {
         return IPV6_STD_PATTERN.matcher(input).matches();
     }
diff --git a/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/conn/util/TestInetAddressUtils.java b/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/conn/util/TestInetAddressUtils.java
index 4478143d7..54e263658 100644
--- a/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/conn/util/TestInetAddressUtils.java
+++ b/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/conn/util/TestInetAddressUtils.java
@@ -79,4 +79,16 @@ public class TestInetAddressUtils {
         Assert.assertFalse(InetAddressUtils.isIPv6HexCompressedAddress("1::2:3:4:5:6:7:8")); // too many fields
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testValidIPv4MappedIPv6Address() {
+        Assert.assertTrue(InetAddressUtils.isIPv4MappedIPv64Address("::FFFF:1.2.3.4"));
+        Assert.assertTrue(InetAddressUtils.isIPv4MappedIPv64Address("::ffff:255.255.255.255"));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testInValidIPv4MappedIPv6Address() {
+        Assert.assertFalse(InetAddressUtils.isIPv4MappedIPv64Address("2001:0db8:0000:0000:0000:0000:1428:57ab"));
+        Assert.assertFalse(InetAddressUtils.isIPv4MappedIPv64Address("::ffff:1:2:3:4"));
+    }
+
 }