diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index 3dc0e0908..7c65633a7 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -4,6 +4,13 @@ Changes from Ant 1.9.3 TO current
 Changes that could break older environments:
 -------------------------------------------
 
+ * the prefixValues attribute of <property> didn't work as expected
+   when set to false (the default).
+   It is quite likely existing build files relied on the wrong
+   behavior and expect Ant to resolve the value side against the
+   properties defined in the property file itself - these build files
+   must now explicitly set the prefixValues attribute to true.
+   Bugzilla Report 54769
 
 Fixed bugs:
 -----------
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/property/ResolvePropertyMap.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/property/ResolvePropertyMap.java
index 3da3e5d67..ca53e99d4 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/property/ResolvePropertyMap.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/property/ResolvePropertyMap.java
@@ -87,10 +87,19 @@ public class ResolvePropertyMap implements GetProperty {
             }
 
             seen.add(name);
+
+            String recursiveCallKey = name;
+            if (prefix != null && !expandingLHS && !prefixValues) {
+                // only look up unprefixed properties inside the map
+                // if prefixValues is true or we are expanding the key
+                // itself
+                recursiveCallKey = prefix + name;
+            }
+
             expandingLHS = false;
             // will recurse into this method for each property
             // reference found in the map's value
-            return parseProperties.parseProperties((String) map.get(name));
+            return parseProperties.parseProperties((String) map.get(recursiveCallKey));
         } finally {
             seen.remove(name);
         }
diff --git a/src/tests/antunit/taskdefs/property-test.xml b/src/tests/antunit/taskdefs/property-test.xml
index 382f39f48..6cb132599 100644
--- a/src/tests/antunit/taskdefs/property-test.xml
+++ b/src/tests/antunit/taskdefs/property-test.xml
@@ -135,4 +135,19 @@ y=$${x}
     <property file="${input}/x.properties" prefix="foo"/>
     <au:assertPropertyEquals name="foo.y" value="x"/>
   </target>
+
+  <target name="testInternalExpansionWithPrefixOnlyExpandsWhenPrefixValuesIsTrue"
+          description="https://issues.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=54769">
+    <mkdir dir="${input}"/>
+    <echo file="${input}/x.properties"><![CDATA[
+a=A
+b=$${a}
+]]></echo>
+    <property file="${input}/x.properties" prefix="foo" prefixValues="true"/>
+    <au:assertPropertyEquals name="foo.b" value="A"/>
+    <property file="${input}/x.properties" prefix="bar" prefixValues="false"/>
+    <au:assertPropertyEquals name="bar.b" value="$${a}"/>
+    <property file="${input}/x.properties" prefix="baz"/>
+    <au:assertPropertyEquals name="baz.b" value="$${a}"/>
+  </target>
 </project>