diff --git a/caddytest/integration/intercept_test.go b/caddytest/integration/intercept_test.go
index 6f8ffc929..c1b33b964 100644
--- a/caddytest/integration/intercept_test.go
+++ b/caddytest/integration/intercept_test.go
@@ -38,3 +38,72 @@ func TestIntercept(t *testing.T) {
 
 	tester.AssertGetResponse("http://localhost:9080/no-intercept", 200, "I'm not a teapot")
 }
+
+func TestInterceptReplaceStatusWithMatcher(t *testing.T) {
+	tester := caddytest.NewTester(t)
+	tester.InitServer(`{
+		skip_install_trust
+		admin localhost:2999
+		http_port     9080
+		https_port    9443
+		grace_period  1ns
+	}
+
+	localhost:9080 {
+		respond /error "boom" 500
+
+		intercept {
+			@err status 5xx
+			replace_status @err 200
+		}
+	}
+	`, "caddyfile")
+
+	tester.AssertGetResponse("http://localhost:9080/error", 200, "boom")
+}
+
+func TestInterceptReplaceStatusWithoutMatcher(t *testing.T) {
+	tester := caddytest.NewTester(t)
+	tester.InitServer(`{
+		skip_install_trust
+		admin localhost:2999
+		http_port     9080
+		https_port    9443
+		grace_period  1ns
+	}
+
+	localhost:9080 {
+		respond /forbidden "denied" 403
+
+		intercept {
+			replace_status 200
+		}
+	}
+	`, "caddyfile")
+
+	tester.AssertGetResponse("http://localhost:9080/forbidden", 200, "denied")
+}
+
+func TestInterceptReplaceStatusNotMatched(t *testing.T) {
+	tester := caddytest.NewTester(t)
+	tester.InitServer(`{
+		skip_install_trust
+		admin localhost:2999
+		http_port     9080
+		https_port    9443
+		grace_period  1ns
+	}
+
+	localhost:9080 {
+		respond /ok "all good" 200
+
+		intercept {
+			@err status 5xx
+			replace_status @err 503
+		}
+	}
+	`, "caddyfile")
+
+	// 200 does not match @err (5xx), so status should pass through unchanged
+	tester.AssertGetResponse("http://localhost:9080/ok", 200, "all good")
+}
diff --git a/modules/caddyhttp/intercept/intercept.go b/modules/caddyhttp/intercept/intercept.go
index bacdc74b5..f0deb1b26 100644
--- a/modules/caddyhttp/intercept/intercept.go
+++ b/modules/caddyhttp/intercept/intercept.go
@@ -97,8 +97,6 @@ var bufPool = sync.Pool{
 	},
 }
 
-// TODO: handle status code replacement
-//
 // EXPERIMENTAL: Subject to change or removal.
 type interceptedResponseHandler struct {
 	caddyhttp.ResponseRecorder
@@ -108,17 +106,6 @@ type interceptedResponseHandler struct {
 	statusCode   int
 }
 
-// EXPERIMENTAL: Subject to change or removal.
-func (irh interceptedResponseHandler) WriteHeader(statusCode int) {
-	if irh.statusCode != 0 && (statusCode < 100 || statusCode >= 200) {
-		irh.ResponseRecorder.WriteHeader(irh.statusCode)
-
-		return
-	}
-
-	irh.ResponseRecorder.WriteHeader(statusCode)
-}
-
 // EXPERIMENTAL: Subject to change or removal.
 func (irh interceptedResponseHandler) Unwrap() http.ResponseWriter {
 	return irh.ResponseRecorder
@@ -142,7 +129,7 @@ func (ir Intercept) ServeHTTP(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, next caddy
 			rec.handlerIndex = i
 
 			// if configured to only change the status code,
-			// do that then stream
+			// buffer the response so we can substitute the status
 			if statusCodeStr := rh.StatusCode.String(); statusCodeStr != "" {
 				sc, err := strconv.Atoi(repl.ReplaceAll(statusCodeStr, ""))
 				if err != nil {
@@ -150,6 +137,8 @@ func (ir Intercept) ServeHTTP(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, next caddy
 				} else {
 					rec.statusCode = sc
 				}
+
+				return true
 			}
 
 			return rec.statusCode == 0
@@ -176,6 +165,23 @@ func (ir Intercept) ServeHTTP(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, next caddy
 		c.Write(zap.Int("handler", rec.handlerIndex))
 	}
 
+	// replace_status only: no routes to execute, just substitute status and write body
+	if rec.handler.Routes == nil {
+		if rec.statusCode == 0 {
+			w.WriteHeader(rec.Status())
+		} else {
+			w.WriteHeader(rec.statusCode)
+		}
+
+		if buf.Len() > 0 {
+			_, err := io.Copy(w, buf)
+
+			return err
+		}
+
+		return nil
+	}
+
 	// response recorder doesn't create a new copy of the original headers, they're
 	// present in the original response writer
 	// create a new recorder to see if any response body from the new handler is present,