diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
index 3fa10dc0a3..8a13ca9965 100644
--- a/AUTHORS
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -483,6 +483,7 @@ answer newbie questions, and generally made Django that much better:
     mattycakes@gmail.com
     Max Burstein <http://maxburstein.com>
     Max Derkachev <mderk@yandex.ru>
+    Maxime Lorant <maxime.lorant@gmail.com>
     Maxime Turcotte <maxocub@riseup.net>
     Maximillian Dornseif <md@hudora.de>
     mccutchen@gmail.com
diff --git a/django/middleware/common.py b/django/middleware/common.py
index 376e82b939..fa38c63a24 100644
--- a/django/middleware/common.py
+++ b/django/middleware/common.py
@@ -159,10 +159,17 @@ class BrokenLinkEmailsMiddleware(object):
 
     def is_ignorable_request(self, request, uri, domain, referer):
         """
-        Returns True if the given request *shouldn't* notify the site managers.
+        Return True if the given request *shouldn't* notify the site managers
+        according to project settings or in three specific situations:
+         - If the referer is empty.
+         - If a '?' in referer is identified as a search engine source.
+         - If the referer is equal to the current URL (assumed to be a
+           malicious bot).
         """
-        # '?' in referer is identified as search engine source
+        full_url = "%s://%s/%s" % (request.scheme, domain, uri.lstrip('/'))
         if (not referer or
-                (not self.is_internal_request(domain, referer) and '?' in referer)):
+                (not self.is_internal_request(domain, referer) and '?' in referer) or
+                (referer == uri or referer == full_url)):
             return True
+
         return any(pattern.search(uri) for pattern in settings.IGNORABLE_404_URLS)
diff --git a/docs/howto/error-reporting.txt b/docs/howto/error-reporting.txt
index be5634e48b..d27f734398 100644
--- a/docs/howto/error-reporting.txt
+++ b/docs/howto/error-reporting.txt
@@ -61,8 +61,15 @@ not found" errors). Django sends emails about 404 errors when:
 
 If those conditions are met, Django will email the users listed in the
 :setting:`MANAGERS` setting whenever your code raises a 404 and the request has
-a referer. (It doesn't bother to email for 404s that don't have a referer --
-those are usually just people typing in broken URLs or broken Web 'bots).
+a referer. It doesn't bother to email for 404s that don't have a referer --
+those are usually just people typing in broken URLs or broken Web bots. It also
+ignores 404s when the referer is equal to the requested URL, since this
+behavior is from broken Web bots too.
+
+.. versionchanged:: 1.9
+
+    In older versions, 404s were not ignored when the referer was equal to the
+    requested URL.
 
 .. note::
 
diff --git a/docs/releases/1.9.txt b/docs/releases/1.9.txt
index 54323c09f7..6460b8a7bc 100644
--- a/docs/releases/1.9.txt
+++ b/docs/releases/1.9.txt
@@ -551,6 +551,11 @@ Requests and Responses
   :class:`~django.http.JsonResponse` to allow passing keyword arguments to the
   ``json.dumps()`` call used to generate the response.
 
+* The :class:`~django.middleware.common.BrokenLinkEmailsMiddleware` now
+  ignores 404s when the referer is equal to the requested URL. To circumvent
+  the empty referer check already implemented, some Web bots set the referer to
+  the requested URL.
+
 Tests
 ^^^^^
 
diff --git a/tests/middleware/tests.py b/tests/middleware/tests.py
index 21f45419c0..6e1bbaf772 100644
--- a/tests/middleware/tests.py
+++ b/tests/middleware/tests.py
@@ -375,6 +375,24 @@ class BrokenLinkEmailsMiddlewareTest(SimpleTestCase):
         SubclassedMiddleware().process_response(self.req, self.resp)
         self.assertEqual(len(mail.outbox), 1)
 
+    def test_referer_equal_to_requested_url(self):
+        """
+        Some bots set the referer to the current URL to avoid being blocked by
+        an referer check (#25302).
+        """
+        self.req.META['HTTP_REFERER'] = self.req.path
+        BrokenLinkEmailsMiddleware().process_response(self.req, self.resp)
+        self.assertEqual(len(mail.outbox), 0)
+        # URL with scheme and domain should also be ignored
+        self.req.META['HTTP_REFERER'] = 'http://testserver%s' % self.req.path
+        BrokenLinkEmailsMiddleware().process_response(self.req, self.resp)
+        self.assertEqual(len(mail.outbox), 0)
+
+    def test_referer_equal_to_requested_url_on_another_domain(self):
+        self.req.META['HTTP_REFERER'] = 'http://anotherserver%s' % self.req.path
+        BrokenLinkEmailsMiddleware().process_response(self.req, self.resp)
+        self.assertEqual(len(mail.outbox), 1)
+
 
 @override_settings(ROOT_URLCONF='middleware.cond_get_urls')
 class ConditionalGetMiddlewareTest(SimpleTestCase):