diff --git a/ext/spl/spl_engine.c b/ext/spl/spl_engine.c
index c9960d69ef9bd..b3d1a3e9f52f1 100644
--- a/ext/spl/spl_engine.c
+++ b/ext/spl/spl_engine.c
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ PHPAPI zend_long spl_offset_convert_to_long(zval *offset) /* {{{ */
 {
 	zend_ulong idx;
 
+try_again:
 	switch (Z_TYPE_P(offset)) {
 	case IS_STRING:
 		if (ZEND_HANDLE_NUMERIC(Z_STR_P(offset), idx)) {
@@ -56,6 +57,9 @@ PHPAPI zend_long spl_offset_convert_to_long(zval *offset) /* {{{ */
 		return 0;
 	case IS_TRUE:
 		return 1;
+	case IS_REFERENCE:
+		offset = Z_REFVAL_P(offset);
+		goto try_again;
 	case IS_RESOURCE:
 		return Z_RES_HANDLE_P(offset);
 	}
diff --git a/ext/spl/tests/bug70853.phpt b/ext/spl/tests/bug70853.phpt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..99530ece40742
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ext/spl/tests/bug70853.phpt
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+--TEST--
+Bug #70853 (SplFixedArray throws exception when using ref variable as index)
+--FILE--
+<?php
+
+$list = new SplFixedArray(10);
+$ndx = 1;
+$ndx2 =& $ndx;
+$list[$ndx] = 123;	// This throws an exception;
+$list[$ndx2] = 123;	// as does this, to.
+echo 'ok';
+
+?>
+--EXPECT--
+ok