diff --git a/ext/intl/formatter/formatter_parse.c b/ext/intl/formatter/formatter_parse.c
index 8ea066c586c1f..c31ece7dd9870 100644
--- a/ext/intl/formatter/formatter_parse.c
+++ b/ext/intl/formatter/formatter_parse.c
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ PHP_FUNCTION( numfmt_parse_currency )
 	FORMATTER_METHOD_INIT_VARS;
 
 	/* Parse parameters. */
-	if( zend_parse_method_parameters( ZEND_NUM_ARGS(), getThis(), "Osz/|z!",
+	if( zend_parse_method_parameters( ZEND_NUM_ARGS(), getThis(), "Osz|z!",
 		&object, NumberFormatter_ce_ptr,  &str, &str_len, &zcurrency, &zposition ) == FAILURE )
 	{
 		RETURN_THROWS();
@@ -165,8 +165,7 @@ PHP_FUNCTION( numfmt_parse_currency )
 	/* Convert parsed currency to UTF-8 and pass it back to caller. */
 	u8str = intl_convert_utf16_to_utf8(currency, u_strlen(currency), &INTL_DATA_ERROR_CODE(nfo));
 	INTL_METHOD_CHECK_STATUS( nfo, "Currency conversion to UTF-8 failed" );
-	zval_ptr_dtor( zcurrency );
-	ZVAL_NEW_STR(zcurrency, u8str);
+	ZEND_TRY_ASSIGN_REF_NEW_STR(zcurrency, u8str);
 
 	RETVAL_DOUBLE( number );
 }
diff --git a/ext/intl/tests/numfmt_parse_currency_references.phpt b/ext/intl/tests/numfmt_parse_currency_references.phpt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..06427a736930b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ext/intl/tests/numfmt_parse_currency_references.phpt
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+--TEST--
+numfmt_parse_currency() reference handling
+--EXTENSIONS--
+intl
+--FILE--
+<?php
+class Test {
+    public int $prop = 1;
+}
+$test = new Test;
+$fmt = numfmt_create( 'de_DE', NumberFormatter::CURRENCY );
+$num = "1\xc2\xa0$";
+try {
+    numfmt_parse_currency($fmt, $num, $test->prop);
+} catch (TypeError $e) {
+    echo $e->getMessage(), "\n";
+}
+?>
+--EXPECT--
+Cannot assign string to reference held by property Test::$prop of type int