diff --git a/lib/application.js b/lib/application.js
index 57b701cef..ab711d294 100644
--- a/lib/application.js
+++ b/lib/application.js
@@ -238,6 +238,11 @@ function respond(ctx) {
 
   // status body
   if (null == body) {
+    if (ctx.response._explicitNullBody) {
+      ctx.response.remove('Content-Type');
+      ctx.response.remove('Transfer-Encoding');
+      return res.end();
+    }
     if (ctx.req.httpVersionMajor >= 2) {
       body = String(code);
     } else {
diff --git a/lib/response.js b/lib/response.js
index 87ecc56a9..4f2fc2783 100644
--- a/lib/response.js
+++ b/lib/response.js
@@ -139,6 +139,7 @@ module.exports = {
     // no content
     if (null == val) {
       if (!statuses.empty[this.status]) this.status = 204;
+      this._explicitNullBody = true;
       this.remove('Content-Type');
       this.remove('Content-Length');
       this.remove('Transfer-Encoding');