diff --git a/src/Composer/Downloader/PearPackageExtractor.php b/src/Composer/Downloader/PearPackageExtractor.php
index ff0c90a9f..1106d927f 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Downloader/PearPackageExtractor.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Downloader/PearPackageExtractor.php
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ class PearPackageExtractor
     private function buildCopyActions($source, array $roles, $vars)
     {
         /** @var $package \SimpleXmlElement */
-        $package = simplexml_load_file($this->combine($source, 'package.xml'));
+        $package = simplexml_load_string(file_get_contents($this->combine($source, 'package.xml')));
         if (false === $package) {
             throw new \RuntimeException('Package definition file is not valid.');
         }
diff --git a/tests/Composer/Test/Downloader/PearPackageExtractorTest.php b/tests/Composer/Test/Downloader/PearPackageExtractorTest.php
index c053976d7..5429d109d 100644
--- a/tests/Composer/Test/Downloader/PearPackageExtractorTest.php
+++ b/tests/Composer/Test/Downloader/PearPackageExtractorTest.php
@@ -18,12 +18,16 @@ class PearPackageExtractorTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
 {
     public function testShouldExtractPackage_1_0()
     {
+        $state = libxml_disable_entity_loader(true);
+
         $extractor = $this->getMockForAbstractClass('Composer\Downloader\PearPackageExtractor', array(), '', false);
         $method = new \ReflectionMethod($extractor, 'buildCopyActions');
         $method->setAccessible(true);
 
         $fileActions = $method->invoke($extractor, __DIR__ . '/Fixtures/Package_v1.0', array('php' => '/'), array());
 
+        libxml_disable_entity_loader($state);
+
         $expectedFileActions = array(
             'Gtk.php' => array(
                 'from' => 'PEAR_Frontend_Gtk-0.4.0/Gtk.php',
@@ -49,12 +53,16 @@ class PearPackageExtractorTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
 
     public function testShouldExtractPackage_2_0()
     {
+        $state = libxml_disable_entity_loader(true);
+
         $extractor = $this->getMockForAbstractClass('Composer\Downloader\PearPackageExtractor', array(), '', false);
         $method = new \ReflectionMethod($extractor, 'buildCopyActions');
         $method->setAccessible(true);
 
         $fileActions = $method->invoke($extractor, __DIR__ . '/Fixtures/Package_v2.0', array('php' => '/'), array());
 
+        libxml_disable_entity_loader($state);
+
         $expectedFileActions = array(
             'URL.php' => array(
                 'from' => 'Net_URL-1.0.15/URL.php',
@@ -68,12 +76,16 @@ class PearPackageExtractorTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
 
     public function testShouldExtractPackage_2_1()
     {
+        $state = libxml_disable_entity_loader(true);
+
         $extractor = $this->getMockForAbstractClass('Composer\Downloader\PearPackageExtractor', array(), '', false);
         $method = new \ReflectionMethod($extractor, 'buildCopyActions');
         $method->setAccessible(true);
 
         $fileActions = $method->invoke($extractor, __DIR__ . '/Fixtures/Package_v2.1', array('php' => '/', 'script' => '/bin'), array());
 
+        libxml_disable_entity_loader($state);
+
         $expectedFileActions = array(
             'php/Zend/Authentication/Storage/StorageInterface.php' => array(
                 'from' => 'Zend_Authentication-2.0.0beta4/php/Zend/Authentication/Storage/StorageInterface.php',