diff --git a/private/protocol/xml/xmlutil/unmarshal.go b/private/protocol/xml/xmlutil/unmarshal.go
index fabb82f8816..64b6ddd3e18 100644
--- a/private/protocol/xml/xmlutil/unmarshal.go
+++ b/private/protocol/xml/xmlutil/unmarshal.go
@@ -111,11 +111,8 @@ func parseStruct(r reflect.Value, node *XMLNode, tag reflect.StructTag) error {
 		elems := node.Children[name]
 
 		if elems == nil { // try to find the field in attributes
-			for _, a := range node.Attr {
-				if name == strings.Join([]string{a.Name.Space, a.Name.Local}, ":") {
-					// turn this into a text node for de-serializing
-					elems = []*XMLNode{{Text: a.Value}}
-				}
+			if val, ok := node.findElem(name); ok {
+				elems = []*XMLNode{{Text: val}}
 			}
 		}
 
diff --git a/private/protocol/xml/xmlutil/xml_to_struct.go b/private/protocol/xml/xmlutil/xml_to_struct.go
index 8e0337bd33a..3112512a210 100644
--- a/private/protocol/xml/xmlutil/xml_to_struct.go
+++ b/private/protocol/xml/xmlutil/xml_to_struct.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package xmlutil
 
 import (
 	"encoding/xml"
+	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"sort"
 )
@@ -12,6 +13,9 @@ type XMLNode struct {
 	Children map[string][]*XMLNode `json:",omitempty"`
 	Text     string                `json:",omitempty"`
 	Attr     []xml.Attr            `json:",omitempty"`
+
+	namespaces map[string]string
+	parent     *XMLNode
 }
 
 // NewXMLElement returns a pointer to a new XMLNode initialized to default values.
@@ -59,41 +63,52 @@ func XMLToStruct(d *xml.Decoder, s *xml.StartElement) (*XMLNode, error) {
 				slice = []*XMLNode{}
 			}
 			node, e := XMLToStruct(d, &el)
+			out.findNamespaces()
 			if e != nil {
 				return out, e
 			}
 			node.Name = typed.Name
-			node.Attr = out.Attr
-			node = adaptNode(node)
+			node.findNamespaces()
+			tempOut := *out
+			// Save into a temp variable, simply because out gets squashed during
+			// loop iterations
+			node.parent = &tempOut
 			slice = append(slice, node)
 			out.Children[name] = slice
 		case xml.EndElement:
 			if s != nil && s.Name.Local == typed.Name.Local { // matching end token
 				return out, nil
 			}
+			out = &XMLNode{}
 		}
 	}
 	return out, nil
 }
 
-func adaptNode(node *XMLNode) *XMLNode {
+func (n *XMLNode) findNamespaces() {
 	ns := map[string]string{}
-	for _, a := range node.Attr {
+	for _, a := range n.Attr {
 		if a.Name.Space == "xmlns" {
 			ns[a.Value] = a.Name.Local
-			break
 		}
 	}
 
-	for i, a := range node.Attr {
-		if a.Name.Space == "xmlns" {
-			continue
-		}
-		if v, ok := ns[node.Attr[i].Name.Space]; ok {
-			node.Attr[i].Name.Space = v
+	n.namespaces = ns
+}
+
+func (n *XMLNode) findElem(name string) (string, bool) {
+	for node := n; node != nil; node = node.parent {
+		for _, a := range node.Attr {
+			namespace := a.Name.Space
+			if v, ok := node.namespaces[namespace]; ok {
+				namespace = v
+			}
+			if name == fmt.Sprintf("%s:%s", namespace, a.Name.Local) {
+				return a.Value, true
+			}
 		}
 	}
-	return node
+	return "", false
 }
 
 // StructToXML writes an XMLNode to a xml.Encoder as tokens.