diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/math/NumberUtils.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/math/NumberUtils.java
index ee26f2e23..7db1f4e1e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/math/NumberUtils.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/math/NumberUtils.java
@@ -1364,7 +1364,8 @@ public class NumberUtils {
                     }
                 }
                 return true;
-           } else { // leading 0, but not hex, must be octal
+           } else if (Character.isDigit(chars[start + 1])) {
+               // leading 0, but not hex, must be octal
                int i = start + 1;
                for (; i < chars.length; i++) {
                    if (chars[i] < '0' || chars[i] > '7') {
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/math/NumberUtilsTest.java b/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/math/NumberUtilsTest.java
index ea895e256..919020f31 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/math/NumberUtilsTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/math/NumberUtilsTest.java
@@ -1234,6 +1234,12 @@ public class NumberUtilsTest {
         compareIsNumberWithCreateNumber("00", true);
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testLANG992() {
+        compareIsNumberWithCreateNumber("0.0", true);
+        compareIsNumberWithCreateNumber("0.4790", true);
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void testLANG972() {
         compareIsNumberWithCreateNumber("0xABCD", true);