diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index c9033ed95..cf178e50b 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ Bugs fixed
 * #2446: latex(pdf) sets local tables of contents (or more generally topic nodes) in unbreakable boxes, causes overflow at bottom
 * #2476: Omit MathJax markers if :nowrap: is given
 * #2465: latex builder fails in case no caption option is provided to toctree directive
+* Sphinx crashes if self referenced toctree found
 
 
 Release 1.4.1 (released Apr 12, 2016)
diff --git a/sphinx/environment.py b/sphinx/environment.py
index 345cf72fa..d5848a429 100644
--- a/sphinx/environment.py
+++ b/sphinx/environment.py
@@ -1911,6 +1911,10 @@ class BuildEnvironment:
         traversed = set()
 
         def traverse_toctree(parent, docname):
+            if parent == docname:
+                self.warn(docname, 'self referenced toctree found. Ignored.')
+                return
+
             # traverse toctree by pre-order
             yield parent, docname
             traversed.add(docname)