diff --git a/phpBB/phpbb/request/request.php b/phpBB/phpbb/request/request.php
index 318d9f66f9..0d9ffa1780 100644
--- a/phpBB/phpbb/request/request.php
+++ b/phpBB/phpbb/request/request.php
@@ -431,41 +431,14 @@ class request implements \phpbb\request\request_interface
 	*/
 	protected function _variable($var_name, $default, $multibyte = false, $super_global = \phpbb\request\request_interface::REQUEST, $trim = true)
 	{
-		$path = false;
+		$var = $this->raw_variable($var_name, $default, $super_global);
 
-		// deep direct access to multi dimensional arrays
-		if (is_array($var_name))
+		// Return prematurely if raw variable is empty array or the same as
+		// the default. Using strict comparison to ensure that one can't
+		// prevent proper type checking on any input variable
+		if ($var === array() || $var === $default)
 		{
-			$path = $var_name;
-			// make sure at least the variable name is specified
-			if (empty($path))
-			{
-				return (is_array($default)) ? array() : $default;
-			}
-			// the variable name is the first element on the path
-			$var_name = array_shift($path);
-		}
-
-		if (!isset($this->input[$super_global][$var_name]))
-		{
-			return (is_array($default)) ? array() : $default;
-		}
-		$var = $this->input[$super_global][$var_name];
-
-		if ($path)
-		{
-			// walk through the array structure and find the element we are looking for
-			foreach ($path as $key)
-			{
-				if (is_array($var) && isset($var[$key]))
-				{
-					$var = $var[$key];
-				}
-				else
-				{
-					return (is_array($default)) ? array() : $default;
-				}
-			}
+			return $var;
 		}
 
 		$this->type_cast_helper->recursive_set_var($var, $default, $multibyte, $trim);