diff --git a/ext/standard/strnatcmp.c b/ext/standard/strnatcmp.c
index 39ab9a49c70..5b05c65299c 100644
--- a/ext/standard/strnatcmp.c
+++ b/ext/standard/strnatcmp.c
@@ -112,10 +112,10 @@ PHPAPI int strnatcmp_ex(char const *a, size_t a_len, char const *b, size_t b_len
 		ca = a[ai]; cb = b[bi];
 
 		/* skip over leading spaces or zeros */
-		while (isspace((int)(unsigned char)ca))
+		while (isspace((int)(unsigned char)ca) || (ca == '0' && ap+1 < aend))
 			ca = a[++ai];
 
-		while (isspace((int)(unsigned char)cb))
+		while (isspace((int)(unsigned char)cb) || (cb == '0' && bp+1 < bend))
 			cb = b[++bi];
 
 		/* process run of digits */
diff --git a/ext/standard/tests/array/bug44929.phpt b/ext/standard/tests/array/bug44929.phpt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ae71e06cffa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ext/standard/tests/array/bug44929.phpt
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+--TEST--
+Bug #44929 (natsort doesn't handle leading zeros well)
+--FILE--
+<?php
+$a = array('001','008','005','00011','03','000014','-123','0.002','00','0');
+natsort($a);
+var_dump($a);
+?>
+--EXPECT--
+array(10) {
+  [6]=>
+  string(4) "-123"
+  [7]=>
+  string(5) "0.002"
+  [8]=>
+  string(2) "00"
+  [9]=>
+  string(1) "0"
+  [0]=>
+  string(3) "001"
+  [4]=>
+  string(2) "03"
+  [2]=>
+  string(3) "005"
+  [1]=>
+  string(3) "008"
+  [3]=>
+  string(5) "00011"
+  [5]=>
+  string(6) "000014"
+}