diff -r 23a760bdd4b1 Lib/httplib.py
--- a/Lib/httplib.py	Fri Jan 17 09:29:24 2014 -0600
+++ b/Lib/httplib.py	Fri Jan 17 19:08:30 2014 +0000
@@ -1322,9 +1322,9 @@
                 self._done()
             return s
 
-    def readline(self):
+    def readline(self, amt=None):
         if self._line_consumed:
-            return self._file.readline()
+            return self._file.readline(amt)
         assert self._line_left
         s = self._line[self._line_offset:]
         self._done()
diff -r 23a760bdd4b1 Lib/test/test_httplib.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_httplib.py	Fri Jan 17 09:29:24 2014 -0600
+++ b/Lib/test/test_httplib.py	Fri Jan 17 19:08:30 2014 +0000
@@ -26,6 +26,9 @@
             raise httplib.UnimplementedFileMode()
         return self.fileclass(self.text)
 
+    def close(self):
+        pass
+
 class EPipeSocket(FakeSocket):
 
     def __init__(self, text, pipe_trigger):
@@ -413,6 +416,19 @@
         self.assertEqual(resp.read(), '')
         self.assertTrue(resp.isclosed())
 
+    def test_proxy_tunnel_without_status_line(self):
+        # Issue 17849: Confirm we can read from HTTP/0.9 style responses to
+        # CONNECT requests.
+        body = "X-Foo: bar\r\n\r\nhello world"
+        conn = httplib.HTTPConnection('example.com', strict=False)
+        conn.sock = FakeSocket(body)
+        conn.set_tunnel('foo')
+        try:
+            conn._tunnel()
+        except TypeError:
+            self.fail()
+
+
 class OfflineTest(TestCase):
     def test_responses(self):
         self.assertEqual(httplib.responses[httplib.NOT_FOUND], "Not Found")