diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/xcontent/AbstractObjectParser.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/xcontent/AbstractObjectParser.java
index f68cf0abe5a..0f25231634d 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/xcontent/AbstractObjectParser.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/xcontent/AbstractObjectParser.java
@@ -183,27 +183,35 @@ public abstract class AbstractObjectParser<Value, Context>
 
     public <T> void declareObjectArray(BiConsumer<Value, List<T>> consumer, ContextParser<Context, T> objectParser,
             ParseField field) {
-        declareField(consumer, (p, c) -> parseArray(p, () -> objectParser.parse(p, c)), field, ValueType.OBJECT_ARRAY);
+        declareFieldArray(consumer, (p, c) -> objectParser.parse(p, c), field, ValueType.OBJECT_ARRAY);
     }
 
     public void declareStringArray(BiConsumer<Value, List<String>> consumer, ParseField field) {
-        declareField(consumer, (p, c) -> parseArray(p, p::text), field, ValueType.STRING_ARRAY);
+        declareFieldArray(consumer, (p, c) -> p.text(), field, ValueType.STRING_ARRAY);
     }
 
     public void declareDoubleArray(BiConsumer<Value, List<Double>> consumer, ParseField field) {
-        declareField(consumer, (p, c) -> parseArray(p, p::doubleValue), field, ValueType.DOUBLE_ARRAY);
+        declareFieldArray(consumer, (p, c) -> p.doubleValue(), field, ValueType.DOUBLE_ARRAY);
     }
 
     public void declareFloatArray(BiConsumer<Value, List<Float>> consumer, ParseField field) {
-        declareField(consumer, (p, c) -> parseArray(p, p::floatValue), field, ValueType.FLOAT_ARRAY);
+        declareFieldArray(consumer, (p, c) -> p.floatValue(), field, ValueType.FLOAT_ARRAY);
     }
 
     public void declareLongArray(BiConsumer<Value, List<Long>> consumer, ParseField field) {
-        declareField(consumer, (p, c) -> parseArray(p, p::longValue), field, ValueType.LONG_ARRAY);
+        declareFieldArray(consumer, (p, c) -> p.longValue(), field, ValueType.LONG_ARRAY);
     }
 
     public void declareIntArray(BiConsumer<Value, List<Integer>> consumer, ParseField field) {
-        declareField(consumer, (p, c) -> parseArray(p, p::intValue), field, ValueType.INT_ARRAY);
+        declareFieldArray(consumer, (p, c) -> p.intValue(), field, ValueType.INT_ARRAY);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Declares a field that can contain an array of elements listed in the type ValueType enum
+     */
+    public <T> void declareFieldArray(BiConsumer<Value, List<T>> consumer, ContextParser<Context, T> itemParser,
+                                      ParseField field, ValueType type) {
+        declareField(consumer, (p, c) -> parseArray(p, () -> itemParser.parse(p, c)), field, type);
     }
 
     public void declareRawObject(BiConsumer<Value, BytesReference> consumer, ParseField field) {
@@ -220,13 +228,18 @@ public abstract class AbstractObjectParser<Value, Context>
     private interface IOSupplier<T> {
         T get() throws IOException;
     }
+
     private static <T> List<T> parseArray(XContentParser parser, IOSupplier<T> supplier) throws IOException {
         List<T> list = new ArrayList<>();
-        if (parser.currentToken().isValue() || parser.currentToken() == XContentParser.Token.START_OBJECT) {
+        if (parser.currentToken().isValue()
+                || parser.currentToken() == XContentParser.Token.VALUE_NULL
+                || parser.currentToken() == XContentParser.Token.START_OBJECT) {
             list.add(supplier.get()); // single value
         } else {
             while (parser.nextToken() != XContentParser.Token.END_ARRAY) {
-                if (parser.currentToken().isValue() || parser.currentToken() == XContentParser.Token.START_OBJECT) {
+                if (parser.currentToken().isValue()
+                        || parser.currentToken() == XContentParser.Token.VALUE_NULL
+                        || parser.currentToken() == XContentParser.Token.START_OBJECT) {
                     list.add(supplier.get());
                 } else {
                     throw new IllegalStateException("expected value but got [" + parser.currentToken() + "]");
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/xcontent/ObjectParser.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/xcontent/ObjectParser.java
index 74b9a4f172c..1a3be1a5a7b 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/xcontent/ObjectParser.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/xcontent/ObjectParser.java
@@ -416,7 +416,8 @@ public final class ObjectParser<Value, Context> extends AbstractObjectParser<Val
         OBJECT_ARRAY_BOOLEAN_OR_STRING(START_OBJECT, START_ARRAY, VALUE_BOOLEAN, VALUE_STRING),
         OBJECT_ARRAY_OR_STRING(START_OBJECT, START_ARRAY, VALUE_STRING),
         VALUE(VALUE_BOOLEAN, VALUE_NULL, VALUE_EMBEDDED_OBJECT, VALUE_NUMBER, VALUE_STRING),
-        VALUE_OBJECT_ARRAY(VALUE_BOOLEAN, VALUE_NULL, VALUE_EMBEDDED_OBJECT, VALUE_NUMBER, VALUE_STRING, START_OBJECT, START_ARRAY);
+        VALUE_OBJECT_ARRAY(VALUE_BOOLEAN, VALUE_NULL, VALUE_EMBEDDED_OBJECT, VALUE_NUMBER, VALUE_STRING, START_OBJECT, START_ARRAY),
+        VALUE_ARRAY(VALUE_BOOLEAN, VALUE_NULL, VALUE_NUMBER, VALUE_STRING, START_ARRAY);
 
         private final EnumSet<XContentParser.Token> tokens;
 
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/xcontent/ObjectParserTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/xcontent/ObjectParserTests.java
index baa2b3bcb36..7b6f14518fe 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/xcontent/ObjectParserTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/xcontent/ObjectParserTests.java
@@ -34,13 +34,14 @@ import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
 
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.startsWith;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.containsString;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.hasSize;
 
 public class ObjectParserTests extends ESTestCase {
 
     public void testBasics() throws IOException {
-        XContentParser parser = createParser(JsonXContent.jsonXContent, 
+        XContentParser parser = createParser(JsonXContent.jsonXContent,
                   "{\n"
                 + "  \"test\" : \"foo\",\n"
                 + "  \"test_number\" : 2,\n"
@@ -449,7 +450,7 @@ public class ObjectParserTests extends ESTestCase {
     }
 
     public void testParseNamedObject() throws IOException {
-        XContentParser parser = createParser(JsonXContent.jsonXContent, 
+        XContentParser parser = createParser(JsonXContent.jsonXContent,
                   "{\"named\": {\n"
                 + "  \"a\": {}"
                 + "}}");
@@ -460,7 +461,7 @@ public class ObjectParserTests extends ESTestCase {
     }
 
     public void testParseNamedObjectInOrder() throws IOException {
-        XContentParser parser = createParser(JsonXContent.jsonXContent, 
+        XContentParser parser = createParser(JsonXContent.jsonXContent,
                   "{\"named\": [\n"
                 + "  {\"a\": {}}"
                 + "]}");
@@ -471,7 +472,7 @@ public class ObjectParserTests extends ESTestCase {
     }
 
     public void testParseNamedObjectTwoFieldsInArray() throws IOException {
-        XContentParser parser = createParser(JsonXContent.jsonXContent, 
+        XContentParser parser = createParser(JsonXContent.jsonXContent,
                   "{\"named\": [\n"
                 + "  {\"a\": {}, \"b\": {}}"
                 + "]}");
@@ -483,7 +484,7 @@ public class ObjectParserTests extends ESTestCase {
     }
 
     public void testParseNamedObjectNoFieldsInArray() throws IOException {
-        XContentParser parser = createParser(JsonXContent.jsonXContent, 
+        XContentParser parser = createParser(JsonXContent.jsonXContent,
                   "{\"named\": [\n"
                 + "  {}"
                 + "]}");
@@ -495,7 +496,7 @@ public class ObjectParserTests extends ESTestCase {
     }
 
     public void testParseNamedObjectJunkInArray() throws IOException {
-        XContentParser parser = createParser(JsonXContent.jsonXContent, 
+        XContentParser parser = createParser(JsonXContent.jsonXContent,
                   "{\"named\": [\n"
                 + "  \"junk\""
                 + "]}");
@@ -594,6 +595,59 @@ public class ObjectParserTests extends ESTestCase {
         assertEquals(s.test, "foo");
     }
 
+    public void testArraysOfGenericValues() throws IOException {
+        XContentParser parser = createParser(JsonXContent.jsonXContent,
+            "{\n"
+                + "  \"test_array\":  [ 1, null, \"3\", 4.2],\n"
+                + "  \"int_array\":  [ 1, 2, 3]\n"
+                + "}");
+        class TestStruct {
+            List<Object> testArray = new ArrayList<>();
+
+            List<Integer> ints = new ArrayList<>();
+
+            public void setInts(List<Integer> ints) {
+                this.ints = ints;
+            }
+
+            public void setArray(List<Object> testArray) {
+                this.testArray = testArray;
+            }
+        }
+        ObjectParser<TestStruct, Void> objectParser = new ObjectParser<>("foo");
+        TestStruct s = new TestStruct();
+
+        objectParser.declareFieldArray(TestStruct::setArray, (p, c) -> XContentParserUtils.parseFieldsValue(p),
+            new ParseField("test_array"), ValueType.VALUE_ARRAY);
+        objectParser.declareIntArray(TestStruct::setInts, new ParseField("int_array"));
+        objectParser.parse(parser, s, null);
+        assertEquals(s.testArray, Arrays.asList(1, null, "3", 4.2));
+        assertEquals(s.ints, Arrays.asList(1, 2, 3));
+
+        parser = createParser(JsonXContent.jsonXContent, "{\"test_array\": 42}");
+        s = new TestStruct();
+        objectParser.parse(parser, s, null);
+        assertEquals(s.testArray, Collections.singletonList(42));
+
+        parser = createParser(JsonXContent.jsonXContent, "{\"test_array\": [null]}");
+        s = new TestStruct();
+        objectParser.parse(parser, s, null);
+        assertThat(s.testArray, hasSize(1));
+        assertNull(s.testArray.get(0));
+
+        parser = createParser(JsonXContent.jsonXContent, "{\"test_array\": null}");
+        s = new TestStruct();
+        objectParser.parse(parser, s, null);
+        assertThat(s.testArray, hasSize(1));
+        assertNull(s.testArray.get(0));
+
+        // Make sure that we didn't break the null handling in arrays that shouldn't support nulls
+        XContentParser parser2 = createParser(JsonXContent.jsonXContent, "{\"int_array\": [1, null, 3]}");
+        TestStruct s2 = new TestStruct();
+        ParsingException ex = expectThrows(ParsingException.class, () -> objectParser.parse(parser2, s2, null));
+        assertThat(ex.getMessage(), startsWith("[foo] failed to parse field [int_array]"));
+    }
+
     static class NamedObjectHolder {
         public static final ObjectParser<NamedObjectHolder, Void> PARSER = new ObjectParser<>("named_object_holder",
                 NamedObjectHolder::new);