diff --git a/wp-includes/formatting.php b/wp-includes/formatting.php
index c7b173621a..8f8c86f742 100644
--- a/wp-includes/formatting.php
+++ b/wp-includes/formatting.php
@@ -5496,27 +5496,24 @@ function sanitize_trackback_urls( $to_ping ) {
 }
 
 /**
- * Add slashes to a string or array of strings.
+ * Add slashes to a string or array of strings, in a recursive manner.
  *
  * This should be used when preparing data for core API that expects slashed data.
  * This should not be used to escape data going directly into an SQL query.
  *
  * @since 3.6.0
+ * @since 5.5.0 Leave a non-string value untouched.
  *
  * @param string|array $value String or array of strings to slash.
  * @return string|array Slashed $value
  */
 function wp_slash( $value ) {
 	if ( is_array( $value ) ) {
-		foreach ( $value as $k => $v ) {
-			if ( is_array( $v ) ) {
-				$value[ $k ] = wp_slash( $v );
-			} else {
-				$value[ $k ] = addslashes( $v );
-			}
-		}
-	} else {
-		$value = addslashes( $value );
+		$value = array_map( 'wp_slash', $value );
+	}
+
+	if ( is_string( $value ) ) {
+		return addslashes( $value );
 	}
 
 	return $value;
diff --git a/wp-includes/version.php b/wp-includes/version.php
index a1b7b92b1c..6e5acc9b3c 100644
--- a/wp-includes/version.php
+++ b/wp-includes/version.php
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
  *
  * @global string $wp_version
  */
-$wp_version = '5.5-beta1-48432';
+$wp_version = '5.5-beta1-48433';
 
 /**
  * Holds the WordPress DB revision, increments when changes are made to the WordPress DB schema.