diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 37d41009..a40c13ef 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ NEWS
   * [mod_compress] case-insensitive content-codings (fixes #2645)
   * [plugins] don't include dlfcn.h if not needed (fixes #2548)
   * [mod_fastcgi] 404 for X-Sendfile file not found (fixes #2474)
+  * [mod_cgi] send 500 if CGI ends and there is no response (fixes #2542)
 
 - 1.4.39 - 2016-01-02
   * [core] fix memset_s call (fixes #2698)
diff --git a/src/mod_cgi.c b/src/mod_cgi.c
index bfbfa13c..ae5cf9e9 100644
--- a/src/mod_cgi.c
+++ b/src/mod_cgi.c
@@ -584,38 +584,48 @@ static handler_t cgi_connection_close(server *srv, handler_ctx *hctx) {
 			 * -> we get here with waitpid == ECHILD
 			 *
 			 */
-			if (errno == ECHILD) return HANDLER_GO_ON;
-
-			log_error_write(srv, __FILE__, __LINE__, "ss", "waitpid failed: ", strerror(errno));
-			return HANDLER_ERROR;
-		default:
-			/* Send an error if we haven't sent any data yet */
-			if (0 == con->file_started) {
-				connection_set_state(srv, con, CON_STATE_HANDLE_REQUEST);
-				con->http_status = 500;
-				con->mode = DIRECT;
-			} else {
-				con->file_finished = 1;
+			if (errno != ECHILD) {
+				log_error_write(srv, __FILE__, __LINE__, "ss", "waitpid failed: ", strerror(errno));
 			}
-
+			/* anyway: don't wait for it anymore */
+			pid = 0;
+			break;
+		default:
 			if (WIFEXITED(status)) {
 #if 0
 				log_error_write(srv, __FILE__, __LINE__, "sd", "(debug) cgi exited fine, pid:", pid);
 #endif
-				return HANDLER_GO_ON;
 			} else {
 				log_error_write(srv, __FILE__, __LINE__, "sd", "cgi died, pid:", pid);
-				return HANDLER_GO_ON;
 			}
+
+			pid = 0;
+			break;
 		}
 
+		if (pid) {
+			kill(pid, SIGTERM);
 
-		kill(pid, SIGTERM);
-
-		/* cgi-script is still alive, queue the PID for removal */
-		cgi_pid_add(srv, p, pid);
+			/* cgi-script is still alive, queue the PID for removal */
+			cgi_pid_add(srv, p, pid);
+		}
 	}
 #endif
+
+	if (con->state == CON_STATE_HANDLE_REQUEST) {
+		/* (not CON_STATE_ERROR and not CON_STATE_RESPONSE_END,
+		 * i.e. not called from cgi_connection_close_callback()) */
+
+		/* Send an error if we haven't sent any data yet */
+		if (0 == con->file_started) {
+			con->http_status = 500;
+			con->mode = DIRECT;
+		} else if (0 == con->file_finished) {
+			http_chunk_close(srv, con);
+			con->file_finished = 1;
+		}
+	}
+
 	return HANDLER_GO_ON;
 }
 
@@ -1423,6 +1433,10 @@ SUBREQUEST_FUNC(mod_cgi_handle_subrequest) {
 
 		hctx->pid = 0;
 
+		if (cgi_demux_response(srv, hctx) == FDEVENT_HANDLED_ERROR) {
+			log_error_write(srv, __FILE__, __LINE__, "s", "demuxer failed: ");
+		}
+
 		/* we already have response headers? just continue */
 		if (con->file_started) return HANDLER_FINISHED;