diff --git a/phpBB/phpbb/profilefields/type/type_string_common.php b/phpBB/phpbb/profilefields/type/type_string_common.php
index 0738cbdafd..78e219a61f 100644
--- a/phpBB/phpbb/profilefields/type/type_string_common.php
+++ b/phpBB/phpbb/profilefields/type/type_string_common.php
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ abstract class type_string_common extends type_base
 		{
 			return $this->user->lang('FIELD_TOO_SHORT', (int) $field_data['field_minlen'], $this->get_field_name($field_data['lang_name']));
 		}
-		else if ($field_data['field_maxlen'] && utf8_strlen($field_value) > $field_data['field_maxlen'])
+		else if ($field_data['field_maxlen'] && utf8_strlen(html_entity_decode($field_value)) > $field_data['field_maxlen'])
 		{
 			return $this->user->lang('FIELD_TOO_LONG', (int) $field_data['field_maxlen'], $this->get_field_name($field_data['lang_name']));
 		}
diff --git a/tests/profile/custom_string_test.php b/tests/profile/custom_string_test.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bd0b20573c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/profile/custom_string_test.php
@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+<?php
+/**
+*
+* @package testing
+* @copyright (c) 2014 phpBB Group
+* @license http://opensource.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.php GNU General Public License v2
+*
+*/
+
+require_once dirname(__FILE__) . '/../../phpBB/includes/utf/utf_tools.php';
+
+class phpbb_profile_custom_string_test extends phpbb_database_test_case
+{
+	public function getDataSet()
+	{
+		return $this->createXMLDataSet(dirname(__FILE__) . '/fixtures/profile_fields.xml');
+	}
+
+	static public function string_fields()
+	{
+		return array(
+			// note, there is an offset of 1 between option_id (0-indexed)
+			// in the database and values (1-indexed) to avoid problems with
+			// transmitting 0 in an HTML form
+			//    required, value, validation, expected, description
+			array(
+					1,
+					'H3110',
+					'[0-9]+',
+					'FIELD_INVALID_CHARS_NUMBERS_ONLY-field',
+					'Required field should reject characters in a numbers-only field',
+			),
+			array(
+					1,
+					'This string is too long',
+					'.*',
+					'FIELD_TOO_LONG-10-field',
+					'Required field should reject a field too long',
+			),
+			array(
+					0,
+					'&lt;&gt;&quot;&amp;%&amp;&gt;&lt;&gt;',
+					'.*',
+					false,
+					'Optional field should accept html entities',
+			),
+			array(
+					1,
+					'ö ä ü ß',
+					'.*',
+					false,
+					'Required field should accept UTF-8 string',
+			),
+			array(
+					1,
+					'This ö ä string has to b',
+					'.*',
+					'FIELD_TOO_LONG-10-field',
+					'Required field should reject an UTF-8 string which is too long',
+			),
+			array(
+					1,
+					'ö äö äö ä',
+					'[\w]+',
+					'FIELD_INVALID_CHARS_ALPHA_ONLY-field',
+					'Required field should reject UTF-8 in alpha only field',
+			),
+			array(
+					1,
+					'Hello',
+					'[\w]+',
+					false,
+					'Required field should accept a characters only field',
+			),
+		);
+	}
+
+	/**
+	* @dataProvider string_fields
+	*/
+	public function test_string_validate($field_required, $field_value, $field_validation, $expected, $description)
+	{
+		$db = $this->new_dbal();
+
+		$field_data = array(
+			'field_id'          => 1,
+			'lang_id'			=> 1,
+			'lang_name'			=> 'field',
+			'field_novalue'		=> 1,
+			'field_required'    => $field_required,
+			'field_maxlen'      => 10,
+			'field_validation'  => $field_validation,
+		);
+		$user = $this->getMock('\phpbb\user');
+		$user->expects($this->any())
+			->method('lang')
+			->will($this->returnCallback(array($this, 'return_callback_implode')));
+
+		$request = $this->getMock('\phpbb\request\request');
+		$template = $this->getMock('\phpbb\template\template');
+
+		$cp = new \phpbb\profilefields\type\type_string(
+			$request,
+			$template,
+			$user
+		);
+		$result = $cp->validate_profile_field($field_value, $field_data);
+
+		$this->assertEquals($expected, $result, $description);
+	}
+
+	public function return_callback_implode()
+	{
+		return implode('-', func_get_args());
+	}
+}