diff --git a/headers/modsecurity/rule.h b/headers/modsecurity/rule.h
index 64e650ad..b585e099 100644
--- a/headers/modsecurity/rule.h
+++ b/headers/modsecurity/rule.h
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ class Rule {
     std::vector<actions::Action *> actions_runtime_pos;
 
     std::vector<std::string> getActionNames();
+    std::vector<actions::Action *> getActionsByName(const std::string& name);
 
     std::vector<Variables::Variable *> *variables;
     int phase;
diff --git a/src/actions/xmlns.cc b/src/actions/xmlns.cc
index b05b966d..efc07826 100644
--- a/src/actions/xmlns.cc
+++ b/src/actions/xmlns.cc
@@ -35,23 +35,23 @@ bool XmlNS::init(std::string *error) {
         error->assign("XMLS: Bad format, missing equals sign.");
         return false;
     }
-    m_name = std::string(m_parser_payload, 0, pos);
-    m_value = std::string(m_parser_payload, pos+1, m_parser_payload.size());
+    m_scope = std::string(m_parser_payload, 0, pos);
+    m_href = std::string(m_parser_payload, pos+1, m_parser_payload.size());
 
-    if (m_value.empty() || m_name.empty()) {
+    if (m_href.empty() || m_scope.empty()) {
         error->assign("XMLS: XMLNS is invalid. Expecting a " \
             "name=value format.");
         return false;
     }
 
-    if (m_value.at(0) == '\'' && m_value.size() > 3) {
-        m_value.erase(0, 1);
-        m_value.pop_back();
+    if (m_href.at(0) == '\'' && m_href.size() > 3) {
+        m_href.erase(0, 1);
+        m_href.pop_back();
     }
 
-    if (m_value.compare(0, http.length(), http) != 0) {
+    if (m_href.compare(0, http.length(), http) != 0) {
         error->assign("XMLS: Missing xmlns href for prefix: " \
-            "`" + m_value + "'.");
+            "`" + m_href + "'.");
         return false;
     }
 
diff --git a/src/actions/xmlns.h b/src/actions/xmlns.h
index f3ef3390..d9db4560 100644
--- a/src/actions/xmlns.h
+++ b/src/actions/xmlns.h
@@ -37,9 +37,8 @@ class XmlNS : public Action {
 
     bool init(std::string *error);
 
- private:
-    std::string m_name;
-    std::string m_value;
+    std::string m_scope;
+    std::string m_href;
 };
 
 
diff --git a/src/rule.cc b/src/rule.cc
index 15b54183..c8a7f61d 100644
--- a/src/rule.cc
+++ b/src/rule.cc
@@ -527,4 +527,25 @@ bool Rule::evaluate(Transaction *trasn) {
     return ret;
 }
 
+
+std::vector<actions::Action *> Rule::getActionsByName(const std::string& name) {
+    std::vector<actions::Action *> ret;
+    for (auto &z : this->actions_runtime_pos) {
+        if (z->m_name == name) {
+            ret.push_back(z);
+        }
+    }
+    for (auto &z : this->actions_runtime_pre) {
+        if (z->m_name == name) {
+            ret.push_back(z);
+        }
+    }
+    for (auto &z : this->actions_conf) {
+        if (z->m_name == name) {
+            ret.push_back(z);
+        }
+    }
+    return ret;
+}
+
 }  // namespace modsecurity
diff --git a/src/variables/xml.cc b/src/variables/xml.cc
index 63518134..d2b7fb9c 100644
--- a/src/variables/xml.cc
+++ b/src/variables/xml.cc
@@ -23,6 +23,9 @@
 #include <fcntl.h>
 #include <libxml/xmlschemas.h>
 #include <libxml/xpath.h>
+#include <libxml/tree.h>
+#include <libxml/parser.h>
+#include <libxml/xpathInternals.h>
 
 #include <iostream>
 #include <string>
@@ -33,11 +36,14 @@
 #include "modsecurity/transaction.h"
 
 #include "src/request_body_processor/xml.h"
+#include "src/actions/action.h"
+#include "src/actions/xmlns.h"
 
 namespace modsecurity {
 namespace Variables {
 
 void XML::evaluateInternal(Transaction *t,
+    Rule *rule,
     std::vector<const collection::Variable *> *l) {
     xmlXPathContextPtr xpathCtx;
     xmlXPathObjectPtr xpathObj;
@@ -60,8 +66,10 @@ void XML::evaluateInternal(Transaction *t,
     /* Is there an XML document tree at all? */
     if (t->m_xml->m_data.doc == NULL) {
         /* Sorry, we've got nothing to give! */
+        t->debug(1, "XML: No XML document found, returning.");
         return;
     }
+
     if (param.empty() == true) {
         /* Invocation without an XPath expression makes sense
          * with functions that manipulate the document tree.
@@ -70,6 +78,7 @@ void XML::evaluateInternal(Transaction *t,
             std::string("[XML document tree]" + param)));
         return;
     }
+
     /* Process the XPath expression. */
     xpathExpr = (const xmlChar*)param.c_str();
     xpathCtx = xmlXPathNewContext(t->m_xml->m_data.doc);
@@ -77,32 +86,24 @@ void XML::evaluateInternal(Transaction *t,
         t->debug(1, "XML: Unable to create new XPath context.");
         return;
     }
-#if 0
-    /* Look through the actionset of the associated rule
-     * for the namespace information. Register them if any are found.
-     */
-    tarr = apr_table_elts(rule->actionset->actions);
-    telts = (const apr_table_entry_t*)tarr->elts;
-    for (i = 0; i < tarr->nelts; i++) {
-        msre_action *action = (msre_action *)telts[i].val;
 
-        if (strcasecmp(action->metadata->name, "xmlns") == 0) {
-            char *prefix, *href;
-
-            if (parse_name_eq_value(mptmp, action->param, &prefix, &href) < 0) return -1;
-            if ((prefix == NULL)||(href == NULL)) return -1;
-
-            if(xmlXPathRegisterNs(xpathCtx, (const xmlChar*)prefix, (const xmlChar*)href) != 0) {
-                msr_log(msr, 1, "Failed to register XML namespace href \"%s\" prefix \"%s\".",
-                    log_escape(mptmp, prefix), log_escape(mptmp, href));
-                return -1;
+    if (rule == NULL) {
+        t->debug(2, "XML: Can't look for xmlns, internal error.");
+    } else {
+        std::vector<actions::Action *> acts = rule->getActionsByName("xmlns");
+        for (auto &x : acts) {
+            actions::XmlNS *z = (actions::XmlNS *)x;
+            if (xmlXPathRegisterNs(xpathCtx, (const xmlChar*)z->m_scope.c_str(),
+                    (const xmlChar*)z->m_href.c_str()) != 0) {
+                t->debug(1, "Failed to register XML namespace href \"" + \
+                    z->m_href + "\" prefix \"" + z->m_scope + "\".");
+                return;
             }
 
-            msr_log(msr, 4, "Registered XML namespace href \"%s\" prefix \"%s\".",
-                log_escape(mptmp, prefix), log_escape(mptmp, href));
+            t->debug(4, "Registered XML namespace href \"" + z->m_href + \
+                "\" prefix \"" + z->m_scope + "\"");
         }
     }
-#endif
 
     /* Initialise XPath expression. */
     xpathObj = xmlXPathEvalExpression(xpathExpr, xpathCtx);
diff --git a/src/variables/xml.h b/src/variables/xml.h
index f7a75220..865477d1 100644
--- a/src/variables/xml.h
+++ b/src/variables/xml.h
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ class XML : public Variable {
         : Variable(_name) { }
 
     void evaluateInternal(Transaction *transaction,
+        Rule *rule,
         std::vector<const collection::Variable *> *l) override;
 };
 
diff --git a/test/test-cases/regression/action-xmlns.json b/test/test-cases/regression/action-xmlns.json
index 9212e426..fa9db840 100644
--- a/test/test-cases/regression/action-xmlns.json
+++ b/test/test-cases/regression/action-xmlns.json
@@ -34,5 +34,74 @@
       "SecRule REQUEST_HEADERS:Content-Type \"^text/xml$\" \"id:500008,phase:1,t:none,t:lowercase,nolog,pass,ctl:requestBodyProcessor=XML\"",
       "SecRule REQUEST_HEADERS:User-Agent \"^(.*)$\" \"id:123,xmlns:soap='schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/'\""
     ]
+  },
+    {
+    "enabled":1,
+    "version_min":300000,
+    "title":"Testing XML request body parser (validate ok)",
+    "expected":{
+      "debug_log": "Target value: \"39.95\" \(Variable: XML:\/bookstore\/book\/price\[text\(\)\]\)"
+    },
+    "client":{
+      "ip":"200.249.12.31",
+      "port":123
+    },
+    "request":{
+      "headers":{
+        "Host":"localhost",
+        "User-Agent":"curl/7.38.0",
+        "Accept":"*/*",
+        "Cookie": "PHPSESSID=rAAAAAAA2t5uvjq435r4q7ib3vtdjq120",
+        "Content-Type": "text/xml"
+      },
+      "uri":"/?key=value&key=other_value",
+      "method":"POST",
+      "body": [
+        "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>",
+        "<bookstore>",
+        "<book category=\"COOKING\">",
+          "<title lang=\"en\">Everyday Italian</title>",
+          "<author>Giada De Laurentiis</author>",
+          "<year>2005</year>",
+          "<price>30.00</price>",
+        "</book>",
+
+        "<book category=\"CHILDREN\">",
+          "<title lang=\"en\">Harry Potter</title>",
+          "<author>J K. Rowling</author>",
+          "<year>2005</year>",
+          "<price>29.99</price>",
+        "</book>",
+
+        "<book category=\"WEB\">",
+          "<title lang=\"en\">XQuery Kick Start</title>",
+          "<author>James McGovern</author>",
+          "<author>Per Bothner</author>",
+          "<author>Kurt Cagle</author>",
+          "<author>James Linn</author>",
+          "<author>Vaidyanathan Nagarajan</author>",
+          "<year>2003</year>",
+          "<price>49.99</price>",
+        "</book>",
+
+        "<book category=\"WEB\">",
+          "<title lang=\"en\">Learning XML</title>",
+          "<author>Erik T. Ray</author>",
+          "<year>2003</year>",
+          "<price>39.95</price>",
+        "</book>",
+        "</bookstore>"
+      ]
+    },
+    "server":{
+      "ip":"200.249.12.31",
+      "port":80
+    },
+    "rules":[
+        "SecRuleEngine On",
+        "SecRequestBodyAccess On",
+        "SecRule REQUEST_HEADERS:Content-Type \"^text/xml$\" \"id:500005,phase:1,t:none,t:lowercase,nolog,pass,ctl:requestBodyProcessor=XML\"",
+        "SecRule XML:/bookstore/book/price[text()] \"Fred\" \"phase:3,id:123,xmlns:soap='http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/'\""
+    ]
   }
 ]
\ No newline at end of file