diff --git a/IPython/html/base/handlers.py b/IPython/html/base/handlers.py
index 700daab..478a80d 100644
--- a/IPython/html/base/handlers.py
+++ b/IPython/html/base/handlers.py
@@ -327,8 +327,8 @@ class FileFindHandler(web.StaticFileHandler):
try:
abspath = os.path.abspath(filefind(path, roots))
except IOError:
- # empty string should always give exists=False
- return ''
+ # IOError means not found
+ raise web.HTTPError(404)
cls._static_paths[path] = abspath
return abspath