diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/http/HttpServer.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/http/HttpServer.java
index 40067e2bff3..0fab142ac18 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/http/HttpServer.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/http/HttpServer.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 package org.elasticsearch.http;
 
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
+import com.google.common.io.ByteStreams;
 
 import org.elasticsearch.common.component.AbstractLifecycleComponent;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Inject;
@@ -30,6 +31,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.node.service.NodeService;
 import org.elasticsearch.rest.*;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.nio.file.*;
 import java.nio.file.attribute.BasicFileAttributes;
 import java.util.HashMap;
@@ -114,10 +116,14 @@ public class HttpServer extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<HttpServer> {
     }
 
     public void internalDispatchRequest(final HttpRequest request, final HttpChannel channel) {
-        if (request.rawPath().startsWith("/_plugin/")) {
+        String rawPath = request.rawPath();
+        if (rawPath.startsWith("/_plugin/")) {
             RestFilterChain filterChain = restController.filterChain(pluginSiteFilter);
             filterChain.continueProcessing(request, channel);
             return;
+        } else if (rawPath.equals("/favicon.ico")) {
+            handleFavicon(request, channel);
+            return;
         }
         restController.dispatchRequest(request, channel);
     }
@@ -131,6 +137,22 @@ public class HttpServer extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<HttpServer> {
         }
     }
 
+    void handleFavicon(HttpRequest request, HttpChannel channel) {
+        if (request.method() == RestRequest.Method.GET) {
+            try {
+                try (InputStream stream = getClass().getResourceAsStream("/config/favicon.ico")) {
+                    byte[] content = ByteStreams.toByteArray(stream);
+                    BytesRestResponse restResponse = new BytesRestResponse(RestStatus.OK, "image/x-icon", content);
+                    channel.sendResponse(restResponse);
+                }
+            } catch (IOException e) {
+                channel.sendResponse(new BytesRestResponse(INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR));
+            }
+        } else {
+            channel.sendResponse(new BytesRestResponse(FORBIDDEN));
+        }
+    }
+
     void handlePluginSite(HttpRequest request, HttpChannel channel) throws IOException {
         if (disableSites) {
             channel.sendResponse(new BytesRestResponse(FORBIDDEN));
diff --git a/core/src/main/resources/config/favicon.ico b/core/src/main/resources/config/favicon.ico
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0eabd4c1edb
Binary files /dev/null and b/core/src/main/resources/config/favicon.ico differ
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 13bda58932d..8295e8ebe86 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -875,10 +875,16 @@
                     <version>2.4.1</version>
                 </plugin>
                 <plugin>
-                    <!-- We just declare which plugin version to use. Each project can have then its own settings -->
                     <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                     <artifactId>maven-resources-plugin</artifactId>
                     <version>2.7</version>
+                    <!-- add some additonal binary types to prevent maven from 
+                         screwing them up with resource filtering  -->
+                    <configuration>
+                        <nonFilteredFileExtensions>
+                            <nonFilteredFileExtension>ico</nonFilteredFileExtension>
+                        </nonFilteredFileExtensions>
+                    </configuration>
                 </plugin>
                 <plugin>
                     <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>