diff --git a/system/Common.php b/system/Common.php
index ea0c476423a0..f3f20a7a0db5 100644
--- a/system/Common.php
+++ b/system/Common.php
@@ -416,6 +416,12 @@ function env(string $key, $default = null)
             return $default;
         }
 
+        // Non-string values (e.g. $_SERVER['argc'] is int, $_SERVER['argv'] is array in CLI)
+        // must be returned as-is to avoid TypeError from strtolower().
+        if (! is_string($value)) {
+            return $value;
+        }
+
         // Handle any boolean values
         return match (strtolower($value)) {
             'true'  => true,
@@ -459,8 +465,10 @@ function esc($data, string $context = 'html', ?string $encoding = null)
 
         if (is_array($data)) {
             foreach ($data as &$value) {
-                $value = esc($value, $context);
+                $value = esc($value, $context, $encoding);
             }
+
+            return $data;
         }
 
         if (is_string($data)) {
@@ -470,16 +478,14 @@ function esc($data, string $context = 'html', ?string $encoding = null)
 
             $method = $context === 'attr' ? 'escapeHtmlAttr' : 'escape' . ucfirst($context);
 
-            static $escaper;
-            if (! $escaper) {
-                $escaper = new Escaper($encoding);
-            }
+            static $escapers = [];
+            $cacheKey        = strtolower($encoding ?? 'utf-8');
 
-            if ($encoding !== null && $escaper->getEncoding() !== $encoding) {
-                $escaper = new Escaper($encoding);
+            if (! isset($escapers[$cacheKey])) {
+                $escapers[$cacheKey] = new Escaper($encoding);
             }
 
-            $data = $escaper->{$method}($data);
+            $data = $escapers[$cacheKey]->{$method}($data);
         }
 
         return $data;
diff --git a/tests/system/CommonFunctionsTest.php b/tests/system/CommonFunctionsTest.php
index 7f79b07381fd..30f99d79a515 100644
--- a/tests/system/CommonFunctionsTest.php
+++ b/tests/system/CommonFunctionsTest.php
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
 use Config\Services;
 use Config\Session as SessionConfig;
 use Exception;
+use InvalidArgumentException;
 use Kint;
 use PHPUnit\Framework\Attributes\BackupGlobals;
 use PHPUnit\Framework\Attributes\DataProvider;
@@ -131,6 +132,42 @@ public function testEnvBooleans(): void
         $this->assertNull(env('p4'));
     }
 
+    #[DataProvider('provideEnvReturnsCorrectTypesWithoutTypeError')]
+    public function testEnvReturnsCorrectTypesWithoutTypeError(string $source, mixed $value): void
+    {
+        $key = 'ci_test_var';
+
+        if ($source === 'SERVER' || $source === 'BOTH') {
+            service('superglobals')->setServer($key, $value);
+        }
+
+        if ($source === 'ENV' || $source === 'BOTH') {
+            $_ENV[$key] = $value;
+        }
+
+        $this->assertSame($value, env($key));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return iterable<string, array{string, mixed}>
+     */
+    public static function provideEnvReturnsCorrectTypesWithoutTypeError(): iterable
+    {
+        yield 'integer from SERVER' => ['SERVER', 2];
+
+        yield 'array from SERVER' => ['SERVER', ['spark', 'migrate']];
+
+        yield 'int 1 is not true' => ['SERVER', 1];
+
+        yield 'int 0 is not false' => ['SERVER', 0];
+
+        yield 'float from SERVER' => ['SERVER', 3.14];
+
+        yield 'integer from ENV' => ['ENV', 42];
+
+        yield 'CLI simulation BOTH' => ['BOTH', 3];
+    }
+
     private function createRouteCollection(): RouteCollection
     {
         return new RouteCollection(Services::locator(), new Modules(), new Routing());
@@ -276,6 +313,22 @@ public function testEscapeRecursiveArrayRaw(): void
         $this->assertSame($data, esc($data, 'raw'));
     }
 
+    public function testEscapeArrayPropagatesEncoding(): void
+    {
+        $this->expectException(InvalidArgumentException::class);
+        // If encoding is not propagated, it would not instantiate the Escaper with the invalid encoding and wouldn't throw.
+        esc(['test'], 'html', 'invalid-encoding');
+    }
+
+    public function testEscapeWithChangingArrayEncoding(): void
+    {
+        $data = [hex2bin('E9')];
+
+        $this->assertSame(['&#xE9;'], esc($data, 'attr', 'iso-8859-1'));
+        $this->assertSame(['&#x0439;'], esc($data, 'attr', 'windows-1251'));
+        $this->assertSame(['&#xE9;'], esc($data, 'attr', 'iso-8859-1'));
+    }
+
     #[PreserveGlobalState(false)]
     #[RunInSeparateProcess]
     #[WithoutErrorHandler]
diff --git a/user_guide_src/source/changelogs/v4.7.4.rst b/user_guide_src/source/changelogs/v4.7.4.rst
index b0145d2d17af..1373f9fa1720 100644
--- a/user_guide_src/source/changelogs/v4.7.4.rst
+++ b/user_guide_src/source/changelogs/v4.7.4.rst
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ Bugs Fixed
 
 - **API:** Fixed a bug in Transformers where the root request's ``fields`` and ``include`` query parameters leaked into nested transformers created inside ``include*()`` methods, causing incorrect field filtering, unexpected includes, or infinite recursion.
 - **Commands:** Fixed a bug where ``make:model --return entity`` did not preserve sub-namespaces when generating the related Entity class.
+- **Common:** Fixed a bug in ``env()`` where a ``TypeError`` could be thrown when non-string values were passed.
+- **Common:** Fixed ``esc()`` to propagate encoding correctly and prevent reference leaks.
 - **Commands:** Fixed a bug where ``spark lang:find`` treated translation keys already provided by the framework or another namespace (such as ``Errors.*`` in ``system/Language``) as new, listing them under ``--show-new`` and writing untranslated placeholders into ``app/Language`` that overrode the existing translations.
 - **Database:** Fixed a bug where ``updateBatch()`` could be called after Query Builder ``where()`` conditions, even though it's not supported. In this situation, now the ``DatabaseException`` is thrown.
 - **Filters:** Fixed a bug in ``InvalidChars`` filter where invalid UTF-8 or control characters in array keys were not checked.