diff --git a/ext/dom/attr.c b/ext/dom/attr.c
index a262aea821395..8d9d5b57f9973 100644
--- a/ext/dom/attr.c
+++ b/ext/dom/attr.c
@@ -136,6 +136,7 @@ int dom_attr_value_write(dom_object *obj, zval *newval)
 {
 	zend_string *str;
 	xmlAttrPtr attrp = (xmlAttrPtr) dom_object_get_node(obj);
+	xmlNodePtr node, next;
 
 	if (attrp == NULL) {
 		php_dom_throw_error(INVALID_STATE_ERR, 1);
@@ -149,9 +150,17 @@ int dom_attr_value_write(dom_object *obj, zval *newval)
 
 	if (attrp->children) {
 		node_list_unlink(attrp->children);
+		node = attrp->children;
+		while (node) {
+			next = node->next;
+			xmlUnlinkNode(node);
+			xmlFreeNode(node);
+			node = next;
+		}
 	}
 
-	xmlNodeSetContentLen((xmlNodePtr) attrp, (xmlChar *) ZSTR_VAL(str), ZSTR_LEN(str) + 1);
+	node = xmlNewTextLen((xmlChar *) ZSTR_VAL(str), ZSTR_LEN(str));
+	xmlAddChild((xmlNodePtr) attrp, node);
 
 	zend_string_release_ex(str, 0);
 	return SUCCESS;
diff --git a/ext/dom/tests/DOMAttr_entity_expansion.phpt b/ext/dom/tests/DOMAttr_entity_expansion.phpt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..d8745cb9f460f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ext/dom/tests/DOMAttr_entity_expansion.phpt
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+--TEST--
+DOMAttr entity expansion
+--FILE--
+<?php
+$doc = new DOMDocument;
+$elt = $doc->createElement('elt');
+$doc->appendChild($elt);
+$elt->setAttribute('a','&');
+print $doc->saveXML($elt) . "\n";
+
+$attr = $elt->getAttributeNode('a');
+$attr->value = '&amp;';
+print $doc->saveXML($elt) . "\n";
+
+$attr->removeChild($attr->firstChild);
+print $doc->saveXML($elt) . "\n";
+
+$elt->setAttributeNS('http://www.w3.org/2000/svg', 'svg:id','&amp;');
+print $doc->saveXML($elt) . "\n";
+
+$attr = $elt->getAttributeNodeNS('http://www.w3.org/2000/svg', 'id');
+$attr->value = '&lt;&amp;';
+print $doc->saveXML($elt) . "\n";
+
+--EXPECT--
+<elt a="&amp;"/>
+<elt a="&amp;amp;"/>
+<elt a=""/>
+<elt xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" a="" svg:id="&amp;amp;"/>
+<elt xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" a="" svg:id="&amp;lt;&amp;amp;"/>