diff --git a/org.springframework.core/src/main/java/org/springframework/util/xml/AbstractXMLStreamReader.java b/org.springframework.core/src/main/java/org/springframework/util/xml/AbstractXMLStreamReader.java
index 01150501f34da6fa5ab0e62391d0daf5c15c4e0a..0ec61f2e5b384f8f65d888be17f448fb64fc1735 100644
--- a/org.springframework.core/src/main/java/org/springframework/util/xml/AbstractXMLStreamReader.java
+++ b/org.springframework.core/src/main/java/org/springframework/util/xml/AbstractXMLStreamReader.java
@@ -149,7 +149,8 @@ abstract class AbstractXMLStreamReader implements XMLStreamReader {
 	public String getAttributeValue(String namespaceURI, String localName) {
 		for (int i = 0; i < getAttributeCount(); i++) {
 			QName name = getAttributeName(i);
-			if (name.getNamespaceURI().equals(namespaceURI) && name.getLocalPart().equals(localName)) {
+			if (name.getLocalPart().equals(localName) &&
+					(namespaceURI == null || name.getNamespaceURI().equals(namespaceURI))) {
 				return getAttributeValue(i);
 			}
 		}