diff --git a/django/db/backends/oracle/base.py b/django/db/backends/oracle/base.py
index 34c7b131fe90e..011ec066a9897 100644
--- a/django/db/backends/oracle/base.py
+++ b/django/db/backends/oracle/base.py
@@ -376,6 +376,30 @@ def __init__(self, param, cursor, strings_only=False):
             self.input_size = None
 
 
+class VariableWrapper(object):
+    """
+    An adapter class for cursor variables that prevents the wrapped object
+    from being converted into a string when used to instanciate an OracleParam.
+    This can be used generally for any other object that should be passed into
+    Cursor.execute as-is.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, var):
+        self.var = var
+
+    def bind_parameter(self, cursor):
+        return self.var
+
+    def __getattr__(self, key):
+        return getattr(self.var, key)
+
+    def __setattr__(self, key, value):
+        if key == 'var':
+            self.__dict__[key] = value
+        else:
+            setattr(self.var, key, value)
+
+
 class InsertIdVar(object):
     """
     A late-binding cursor variable that can be passed to Cursor.execute
@@ -384,7 +408,7 @@ class InsertIdVar(object):
     """
 
     def bind_parameter(self, cursor):
-        param = cursor.var(Database.NUMBER)
+        param = cursor.cursor.var(Database.NUMBER)
         cursor._insert_id_var = param
         return param
 
@@ -439,7 +463,7 @@ def execute(self, query, params=None):
             return self.cursor.execute(query, self._param_generator(params))
         except DatabaseError, e:
             # cx_Oracle <= 4.4.0 wrongly raises a DatabaseError for ORA-01400.
-            if e.args[0].code == 1400 and not isinstance(e, IntegrityError):
+            if hasattr(e.args[0], 'code') and e.args[0].code == 1400 and not isinstance(e, IntegrityError):
                 e = IntegrityError(e.args[0])
             raise e
 
@@ -463,7 +487,7 @@ def executemany(self, query, params=None):
                                 [self._param_generator(p) for p in formatted])
         except DatabaseError, e:
             # cx_Oracle <= 4.4.0 wrongly raises a DatabaseError for ORA-01400.
-            if e.args[0].code == 1400 and not isinstance(e, IntegrityError):
+            if hasattr(e.args[0], 'code') and e.args[0].code == 1400 and not isinstance(e, IntegrityError):
                 e = IntegrityError(e.args[0])
             raise e
 
@@ -523,6 +547,12 @@ def _rowfactory(self, row):
             casted.append(value)
         return tuple(casted)
 
+    def var(self, *args):
+        return VariableWrapper(self.cursor.var(*args))
+
+    def arrayvar(self, *args):
+        return VariableWrapper(self.cursor.arrayvar(*args))
+
     def __getattr__(self, attr):
         if attr in self.__dict__:
             return self.__dict__[attr]
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/backends/tests.py b/tests/regressiontests/backends/tests.py
index da3f4ab17c744..28dfd7f208ffe 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/backends/tests.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/backends/tests.py
@@ -22,6 +22,16 @@ def test_dbms_session(self):
         else:
             return True
             
+    def test_cursor_var(self):
+        # If the backend is Oracle, test that we can pass cursor variables
+        # as query parameters.
+        if settings.DATABASE_ENGINE == 'oracle':
+            cursor = connection.cursor()
+            var = cursor.var(backend.Database.STRING)
+            cursor.execute("BEGIN %s := 'X'; END; ", [var])
+            self.assertEqual(var.getvalue(), 'X')
+
+
 class LongString(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def test_long_string(self):