diff --git a/pkg/api/api.go b/pkg/api/api.go
index 28d015a54f5..8ea0304be83 100644
--- a/pkg/api/api.go
+++ b/pkg/api/api.go
@@ -131,6 +131,9 @@ func (hs *HTTPServer) registerRoutes() {
 	// api renew session based on cookie
 	r.Get("/api/login/ping", quota("session"), routing.Wrap(hs.LoginAPIPing))
 
+	// expose plugin file system assets
+	r.Get("/public/plugins/:pluginId/*", hs.GetPluginAssets)
+
 	// authed api
 	r.Group("/api", func(apiRoute routing.RouteRegister) {
 		// user (signed in)
diff --git a/pkg/api/http_server.go b/pkg/api/http_server.go
index ac8cde887f0..73a2fd20668 100644
--- a/pkg/api/http_server.go
+++ b/pkg/api/http_server.go
@@ -329,12 +329,6 @@ func (hs *HTTPServer) addMiddlewaresAndStaticRoutes() {
 
 	m.Use(middleware.Recovery(hs.Cfg))
 
-	for _, route := range hs.PluginManager.StaticRoutes() {
-		pluginRoute := path.Join("/public/plugins/", route.PluginId)
-		hs.log.Debug("Plugins: Adding route", "route", pluginRoute, "dir", route.Directory)
-		hs.mapStatic(m, route.Directory, "", pluginRoute)
-	}
-
 	hs.mapStatic(m, hs.Cfg.StaticRootPath, "build", "public/build")
 	hs.mapStatic(m, hs.Cfg.StaticRootPath, "", "public")
 	hs.mapStatic(m, hs.Cfg.StaticRootPath, "robots.txt", "robots.txt")
diff --git a/pkg/api/plugins.go b/pkg/api/plugins.go
index 1b0a73d89d0..e5b48f2c268 100644
--- a/pkg/api/plugins.go
+++ b/pkg/api/plugins.go
@@ -4,10 +4,15 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"errors"
 	"net/http"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"sort"
+	"strings"
+
+	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/setting"
+	"gopkg.in/macaron.v1"
 
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana-plugin-sdk-go/backend"
-
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/api/dtos"
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/api/response"
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/bus"
@@ -235,6 +240,64 @@ func (hs *HTTPServer) CollectPluginMetrics(c *models.ReqContext) response.Respon
 	return response.CreateNormalResponse(headers, resp.PrometheusMetrics, http.StatusOK)
 }
 
+// GetPluginAssets returns public plugin assets (images, JS, etc.)
+//
+// /public/plugins/:pluginId/*
+func (hs *HTTPServer) GetPluginAssets(c *models.ReqContext) {
+	pluginID := c.Params("pluginId")
+	plugin := hs.PluginManager.GetPlugin(pluginID)
+	if plugin == nil {
+		c.Handle(hs.Cfg, 404, "Plugin not found", nil)
+		return
+	}
+
+	requestedFile := filepath.Clean(c.Params("*"))
+	pluginFilePath := filepath.Join(plugin.PluginDir, requestedFile)
+
+	// It's safe to ignore gosec warning G304 since we already clean the requested file path and subsequently
+	// use this with a prefix of the plugin's directory, which is set during plugin loading
+	// nolint:gosec
+	f, err := os.Open(pluginFilePath)
+	if err != nil {
+		if os.IsNotExist(err) {
+			c.Handle(hs.Cfg, 404, "Could not find plugin file", err)
+			return
+		}
+		c.Handle(hs.Cfg, 500, "Could not open plugin file", err)
+		return
+	}
+	defer func() {
+		if err := f.Close(); err != nil {
+			hs.log.Error("Failed to close file", "err", err)
+		}
+	}()
+
+	fi, err := f.Stat()
+	if err != nil {
+		c.Handle(hs.Cfg, 500, "Plugin file exists but could not open", err)
+		return
+	}
+
+	if shouldExclude(fi) {
+		c.Handle(hs.Cfg, 404, "Plugin file not found", nil)
+		return
+	}
+
+	headers := func(c *macaron.Context) {
+		c.Resp.Header().Set("Cache-Control", "public, max-age=3600")
+	}
+
+	if hs.Cfg.Env == setting.Dev {
+		headers = func(c *macaron.Context) {
+			c.Resp.Header().Set("Cache-Control", "max-age=0, must-revalidate, no-cache")
+		}
+	}
+
+	headers(c.Context)
+
+	http.ServeContent(c.Resp, c.Req.Request, pluginFilePath, fi.ModTime(), f)
+}
+
 // CheckHealth returns the health of a plugin.
 // /api/plugins/:pluginId/health
 func (hs *HTTPServer) CheckHealth(c *models.ReqContext) response.Response {
@@ -317,3 +380,13 @@ func translatePluginRequestErrorToAPIError(err error) response.Response {
 
 	return response.Error(500, "Plugin request failed", err)
 }
+
+func shouldExclude(fi os.FileInfo) bool {
+	normalizedFilename := strings.ToLower(fi.Name())
+
+	isUnixExecutable := fi.Mode()&0111 == 0111
+	isWindowsExecutable := strings.HasSuffix(normalizedFilename, ".exe")
+	isScript := strings.HasSuffix(normalizedFilename, ".sh")
+
+	return isUnixExecutable || isWindowsExecutable || isScript
+}
diff --git a/pkg/api/static/static.go b/pkg/api/static/static.go
index 6381262fb4e..e372a7c6c9b 100644
--- a/pkg/api/static/static.go
+++ b/pkg/api/static/static.go
@@ -165,12 +165,12 @@ func staticHandler(ctx *macaron.Context, log *log.Logger, opt StaticOptions) boo
 		}
 
 		file = path.Join(file, opt.IndexFile)
-		f, err = opt.FileSystem.Open(file)
+		indexFile, err := opt.FileSystem.Open(file)
 		if err != nil {
 			return false // Discard error.
 		}
 		defer func() {
-			if err := f.Close(); err != nil {
+			if err := indexFile.Close(); err != nil {
 				log.Printf("Failed to close file: %s", err)
 			}
 		}()