diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Encoder/XmlEncoder.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Encoder/XmlEncoder.php
index 40f61167b3..2cd5bbd521 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Encoder/XmlEncoder.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Encoder/XmlEncoder.php
@@ -301,11 +301,19 @@ class XmlEncoder extends SerializerAwareEncoder implements EncoderInterface, Dec
         $data = array();
 
         foreach ($node->attributes as $attr) {
-            if (ctype_digit($attr->nodeValue)) {
-                $data['@'.$attr->nodeName] = (int) $attr->nodeValue;
-            } else {
+            if (!is_numeric($attr->nodeValue)) {
                 $data['@'.$attr->nodeName] = $attr->nodeValue;
+
+                continue;
             }
+
+            if (false !== $val = filter_var($attr->nodeValue, FILTER_VALIDATE_INT)) {
+                $data['@'.$attr->nodeName] = $val;
+
+                continue;
+            }
+
+            $data['@'.$attr->nodeName] = (float) $attr->nodeValue;
         }
 
         return $data;
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Encoder/XmlEncoderTest.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Encoder/XmlEncoderTest.php
index e036fbbaf4..b8ec8fd0d6 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Encoder/XmlEncoderTest.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Encoder/XmlEncoderTest.php
@@ -222,6 +222,46 @@ XML;
         $this->assertEquals('foo', $this->encoder->decode($source, 'xml'));
     }
 
+    public function testDecodeBigDigitAttributes()
+    {
+        $source = <<<XML
+<?xml version="1.0"?>
+<document index="182077241760011681341821060401202210011000045913000000017100">Name</document>
+XML;
+
+        $this->assertSame(array('@index' => 182077241760011681341821060401202210011000045913000000017100, '#' => 'Name'), $this->encoder->decode($source, 'xml'));
+    }
+
+    public function testDecodeNegativeIntAttribute()
+    {
+        $source = <<<XML
+<?xml version="1.0"?>
+<document index="-1234">Name</document>
+XML;
+
+        $this->assertSame(array('@index' => -1234, '#' => 'Name'), $this->encoder->decode($source, 'xml'));
+    }
+
+    public function testDecodeFloatAttribute()
+    {
+        $source = <<<XML
+<?xml version="1.0"?>
+<document index="-12.11">Name</document>
+XML;
+
+        $this->assertSame(array('@index' => -12.11, '#' => 'Name'), $this->encoder->decode($source, 'xml'));
+    }
+
+    public function testDecodeNegativeFloatAttribute()
+    {
+        $source = <<<XML
+<?xml version="1.0"?>
+<document index="-12.11">Name</document>
+XML;
+
+        $this->assertSame(array('@index' => -12.11, '#' => 'Name'), $this->encoder->decode($source, 'xml'));
+    }
+
     public function testEncode()
     {
         $source = $this->getXmlSource();