diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/CHANGELOG.md b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/CHANGELOG.md
index 01c16d00cf..ef5ed79538 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -39,6 +39,8 @@ CHANGELOG
  * [DEPRECATION] the `Exception` interface has been renamed to `ExceptionInterface`
  * added `ObjectNormalizer` leveraging the `PropertyAccess` component to normalize
    objects containing both properties and getters / setters / issers / hassers methods.
+ * added `xml_type_cast_attributes` context option for allowing users to opt-out of typecasting
+   xml attributes.
 
 2.6.0
 -----
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Encoder/XmlEncoder.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Encoder/XmlEncoder.php
index f52c609d7e..acc08597dd 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Encoder/XmlEncoder.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Encoder/XmlEncoder.php
@@ -119,10 +119,10 @@ class XmlEncoder extends SerializerAwareEncoder implements EncoderInterface, Dec
             unset($data['@xmlns:xml']);
 
             if (empty($data)) {
-                return $this->parseXml($rootNode);
+                return $this->parseXml($rootNode, $context);
             }
 
-            return array_merge($data, (array) $this->parseXml($rootNode));
+            return array_merge($data, (array) $this->parseXml($rootNode, $context));
         }
 
         if (!$rootNode->hasAttributes()) {
@@ -261,11 +261,11 @@ class XmlEncoder extends SerializerAwareEncoder implements EncoderInterface, Dec
      *
      * @return array|string
      */
-    private function parseXml(\DOMNode $node)
+    private function parseXml(\DOMNode $node, array $context = array())
     {
-        $data = $this->parseXmlAttributes($node);
+        $data = $this->parseXmlAttributes($node, $context);
 
-        $value = $this->parseXmlValue($node);
+        $value = $this->parseXmlValue($node, $context);
 
         if (!count($data)) {
             return $value;
@@ -297,16 +297,17 @@ class XmlEncoder extends SerializerAwareEncoder implements EncoderInterface, Dec
      *
      * @return array
      */
-    private function parseXmlAttributes(\DOMNode $node)
+    private function parseXmlAttributes(\DOMNode $node, array $context = array())
     {
         if (!$node->hasAttributes()) {
             return array();
         }
 
         $data = array();
+        $typeCastAttributes = $this->resolveXmlTypeCastAttributes($context);
 
         foreach ($node->attributes as $attr) {
-            if (!is_numeric($attr->nodeValue)) {
+            if (!is_numeric($attr->nodeValue) || !$typeCastAttributes) {
                 $data['@'.$attr->nodeName] = $attr->nodeValue;
 
                 continue;
@@ -331,7 +332,7 @@ class XmlEncoder extends SerializerAwareEncoder implements EncoderInterface, Dec
      *
      * @return array|string
      */
-    private function parseXmlValue(\DOMNode $node)
+    private function parseXmlValue(\DOMNode $node, array $context = array())
     {
         if (!$node->hasChildNodes()) {
             return $node->nodeValue;
@@ -348,7 +349,7 @@ class XmlEncoder extends SerializerAwareEncoder implements EncoderInterface, Dec
                 continue;
             }
 
-            $val = $this->parseXml($subnode);
+            $val = $this->parseXml($subnode, $context);
 
             if ('item' === $subnode->nodeName && isset($val['@key'])) {
                 if (isset($val['#'])) {
@@ -527,6 +528,20 @@ class XmlEncoder extends SerializerAwareEncoder implements EncoderInterface, Dec
             : $this->rootNodeName;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Get XML option for type casting attributes Defaults to true.
+     *
+     * @param array $context
+     *
+     * @return bool
+     */
+    private function resolveXmlTypeCastAttributes(array $context = array())
+    {
+        return isset($context['xml_type_cast_attributes'])
+            ? (bool) $context['xml_type_cast_attributes']
+            : true;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Create a DOM document, taking serializer options into account.
      *
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Encoder/XmlEncoderTest.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Encoder/XmlEncoderTest.php
index b1c810e955..e8178ad0c4 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Encoder/XmlEncoderTest.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Encoder/XmlEncoderTest.php
@@ -284,6 +284,28 @@ XML;
         $this->assertSame(array('@index' => -12.11, '#' => 'Name'), $this->encoder->decode($source, 'xml'));
     }
 
+    public function testNoTypeCastAttribute()
+    {
+        $source = <<<XML
+<?xml version="1.0"?>
+<document a="018" b="-12.11">
+    <node a="018" b="-12.11"/>
+</document>
+XML;
+
+        $data = $this->encoder->decode($source, 'xml', array('xml_type_cast_attributes' => false));
+        $expected = array(
+            '@a' => '018',
+            '@b' => '-12.11',
+            'node' => array(
+                '@a' => '018',
+                '@b' => '-12.11',
+                '#' => '',
+            ),
+        );
+        $this->assertSame($expected, $data);
+    }
+
     public function testEncode()
     {
         $source = $this->getXmlSource();