1 files changed, 7 insertions, 2 deletions
diff --git a/app/controllers/application_controller.rb b/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
index db8a8cdc0d2..bc60a0a02e8 100644
--- a/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
@@ -130,12 +130,17 @@ class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
   end
 
   def access_denied!(message = nil)
+    # If we display a custom access denied message to the user, we don't want to
+    # hide existence of the resource, rather tell them they cannot access it using
+    # the provided message
+    status = message.present? ? :forbidden : :not_found
+
     respond_to do |format|
-      format.any { head :not_found }
+      format.any { head status }
       format.html do
         render "errors/access_denied",
                layout: "errors",
-               status: 404,
+               status: status,
                locals: { message: message }
       end
     end