diff -r 89704c124fa8 Lib/test/test_wsgiref.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_wsgiref.py	Thu Mar 17 11:01:35 2016 -0400
+++ b/Lib/test/test_wsgiref.py	Thu Mar 17 17:32:18 2016 +0000
@@ -166,6 +166,48 @@
             " be of type list: <class 'tuple'>"
         )
 
+    def test_status_validation_error_1(self):
+        def bad_app(environ,start_response):
+            start_response("200", [("Content-Type", "text/plain; charset=utf-8")])
+            return ["Hello, world!"]
+
+        out, err = run_amock(bad_app)
+        self.assertTrue(out.endswith(
+            b"A server error occurred.  Please contact the administrator."
+        ))
+        self.assertEqual(
+            err.splitlines()[-2],
+            "AssertionError: Status must be at least 4 characters"
+        )
+
+    def test_status_validation_error_2(self):
+        def bad_app(environ,start_response):
+            start_response("20X OK", [("Content-Type", "text/plain; charset=utf-8")])
+            return ["Hello, world!"]
+
+        out, err = run_amock(bad_app)
+        self.assertTrue(out.endswith(
+            b"A server error occurred.  Please contact the administrator."
+        ))
+        self.assertEqual(
+            err.splitlines()[-2],
+            "AssertionError: Status message must begin w/3-digit code"
+        )
+
+    def test_status_validation_error_3(self):
+        def bad_app(environ,start_response):
+            start_response("200OK", [("Content-Type", "text/plain; charset=utf-8")])
+            return ["Hello, world!"]
+
+        out, err = run_amock(bad_app)
+        self.assertTrue(out.endswith(
+            b"A server error occurred.  Please contact the administrator."
+        ))
+        self.assertEqual(
+            err.splitlines()[-2],
+            "AssertionError: Status message must have a space after code"
+        )
+
     def test_wsgi_input(self):
         def bad_app(e,s):
             e["wsgi.input"].read()
diff -r 89704c124fa8 Lib/wsgiref/handlers.py
--- a/Lib/wsgiref/handlers.py	Thu Mar 17 11:01:35 2016 -0400
+++ b/Lib/wsgiref/handlers.py	Thu Mar 17 17:32:18 2016 +0000
@@ -225,9 +225,9 @@
         self.status = status
         self.headers = self.headers_class(headers)
         status = self._convert_string_type(status, "Status")
-        assert len(status)>=4,"Status must be at least 4 characters"
-        assert int(status[:3]),"Status message must begin w/3-digit code"
-        assert status[3]==" ", "Status message must have a space after code"
+        assert len(status) >= 4, "Status must be at least 4 characters"
+        assert status[:3].isnumeric(), "Status message must begin w/3-digit code"
+        assert status[3] == " ", "Status message must have a space after code"
 
         if __debug__:
             for name, val in headers: