diff --git a/wp-includes/formatting.php b/wp-includes/formatting.php
index c0e4f14063..7493bcf3b5 100644
--- a/wp-includes/formatting.php
+++ b/wp-includes/formatting.php
@@ -2268,7 +2268,8 @@ function esc_url( $url, $protocols = null, $_context = 'display' ) {
 
 	// Replace ampersands and single quotes only when displaying.
 	if ( 'display' == $_context ) {
-		$url = preg_replace('/&([^#])(?![a-z]{2,8};)/', '&$1', $url);
+		$url = wp_kses_normalize_entities( $url );
+		$url = str_replace( '&', '&', $url );
 		$url = str_replace( "'", ''', $url );
 	}
 
diff --git a/wp-includes/kses.php b/wp-includes/kses.php
index 05bdbd52ff..d36deb33e0 100644
--- a/wp-includes/kses.php
+++ b/wp-includes/kses.php
@@ -1027,14 +1027,9 @@ function wp_kses_html_error($string) {
  * @return string Sanitized content
  */
 function wp_kses_bad_protocol_once($string, $allowed_protocols) {
-	global $_kses_allowed_protocols;
-	$_kses_allowed_protocols = $allowed_protocols;
-
-	$string2 = preg_split('/:|:|:/i', $string, 2);
-	if ( isset($string2[1]) && !preg_match('%/\?%', $string2[0]) )
-		$string = wp_kses_bad_protocol_once2($string2[0]) . trim($string2[1]);
-	else
-		$string = preg_replace_callback('/^((&[^;]*;|[\sA-Za-z0-9])*)'.'(:|:|&#[Xx]3[Aa];)\s*/', 'wp_kses_bad_protocol_once2', $string);
+	$string2 = preg_split( '/:|&#0*58;|&#x0*3a;/i', $string, 2 );
+	if ( isset($string2[1]) && ! preg_match('%/\?%', $string2[0]) )
+		$string = wp_kses_bad_protocol_once2( $string2[0], $allowed_protocols ) . trim( $string2[1] );
 
 	return $string;
 }
@@ -1048,29 +1043,19 @@ function wp_kses_bad_protocol_once($string, $allowed_protocols) {
  * @access private
  * @since 1.0.0
  *
- * @param mixed $matches string or preg_replace_callback() matches array to check for bad protocols
+ * @param string $string URI scheme to check against the whitelist
+ * @param string $allowed_protocols Allowed protocols
  * @return string Sanitized content
  */
-function wp_kses_bad_protocol_once2($matches) {
-	global $_kses_allowed_protocols;
-
-	if ( is_array($matches) ) {
-		if ( empty($matches[1]) )
-			return '';
-
-		$string = $matches[1];
-	} else {
-		$string = $matches;
-	}
-
+function wp_kses_bad_protocol_once2( $string, $allowed_protocols ) {
 	$string2 = wp_kses_decode_entities($string);
 	$string2 = preg_replace('/\s/', '', $string2);
 	$string2 = wp_kses_no_null($string2);
 	$string2 = strtolower($string2);
 
 	$allowed = false;
-	foreach ( (array) $_kses_allowed_protocols as $one_protocol)
-		if (strtolower($one_protocol) == $string2) {
+	foreach ( (array) $allowed_protocols as $one_protocol )
+		if ( strtolower($one_protocol) == $string2 ) {
 			$allowed = true;
 			break;
 		}
@@ -1098,9 +1083,10 @@ function wp_kses_normalize_entities($string) {
 	$string = str_replace('&', '&', $string);
 
 	# Change back the allowed entities in our entity whitelist
+
 	$string = preg_replace_callback('/&([A-Za-z]{2,8});/', 'wp_kses_named_entities', $string);
-	$string = preg_replace_callback('/&#0*([0-9]{1,5});/', 'wp_kses_normalize_entities2', $string);
-	$string = preg_replace_callback('/&#[Xx]0*(([0-9A-Fa-f]{2}){1,2});/', 'wp_kses_normalize_entities3', $string);
+	$string = preg_replace_callback('/&#(0*[0-9]{1,7});/', 'wp_kses_normalize_entities2', $string);
+	$string = preg_replace_callback('/&#[Xx](0*[0-9A-Fa-f]{1,6});/', 'wp_kses_normalize_entities3', $string);
 
 	return $string;
 }
@@ -1143,7 +1129,14 @@ function wp_kses_normalize_entities2($matches) {
 		return '';
 
 	$i = $matches[1];
-	return ( ($i > 65535 || ! valid_unicode($i)) ? "&#$i;" : "&#$i;" );
+	if (valid_unicode($i)) {
+		$i = str_pad(ltrim($i,'0'), 3, '0', STR_PAD_LEFT);
+		$i = "&#$i;";
+	} else {
+		$i = "&#$i;";
+	}
+
+	return $i;
 }
 
 /**
@@ -1162,7 +1155,7 @@ function wp_kses_normalize_entities3($matches) {
 		return '';
 
 	$hexchars = $matches[1];
-	return ( ( ! valid_unicode(hexdec($hexchars)) ) ? "&#x$hexchars;" : "&#x$hexchars;" );
+	return ( ( ! valid_unicode(hexdec($hexchars)) ) ? "&#x$hexchars;" : '&#x'.ltrim($hexchars,'0').';' );
 }
 
 /**