diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 1d5c3146da5..17abccecca3 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ PHP                                                                        NEWS
   . Fixed leak in Enum::from/tryFrom for internal enums when using JIT (ilutov)
   . Fixed calling internal methods with a static return type from
     extension code. (Sara)
+  . Fixed bug GH-8655 (Casting an object to array does not unwrap refcount=1
+    references). (Nicolas Grekas)
 
 - Date:
   . Fixed bug #72963 (Null-byte injection in CreateFromFormat and related
diff --git a/Zend/tests/bugGH-8655.phpt b/Zend/tests/bugGH-8655.phpt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..d484c65d0e5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Zend/tests/bugGH-8655.phpt
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+--TEST--
+Bug GH-8655 (zval reference is not released when targetting a declared property)
+--FILE--
+<?php
+class Foo
+{
+    public $foo;
+}
+
+function hydrate($properties, $object)
+{
+    foreach ($properties as $name => &$value) {
+        $object->$name = &$value;
+    }
+};
+
+$object = new Foo;
+
+hydrate(['foo' => 123], $object);
+
+$arrayCast = (array) $object;
+
+$object->foo = 234;
+var_dump(ReflectionReference::fromArrayElement($arrayCast, 'foo'));
+echo $arrayCast['foo'];
+?>
+--EXPECT--
+NULL
+123
diff --git a/Zend/zend_object_handlers.c b/Zend/zend_object_handlers.c
index 3b0cfab1778..966ba0dd6ed 100644
--- a/Zend/zend_object_handlers.c
+++ b/Zend/zend_object_handlers.c
@@ -111,6 +111,10 @@ ZEND_API HashTable *zend_std_build_object_properties_array(zend_object *zobj) /*
 				continue;
 			}
 
+			if (Z_ISREF_P(prop) && Z_REFCOUNT_P(prop) == 1) {
+				prop = Z_REFVAL_P(prop);
+			}
+
 			Z_TRY_ADDREF_P(prop);
 			_zend_hash_append(ht, prop_info->name, prop);
 		}