diff --git a/typo3/sysext/core/Classes/Utility/GeneralUtility.php b/typo3/sysext/core/Classes/Utility/GeneralUtility.php
index 089dc693ae735926fd830e4f8b9257f03bb84c93..2e0eedf444fa072cbaa3e1e22e4f583ca199873d 100644
--- a/typo3/sysext/core/Classes/Utility/GeneralUtility.php
+++ b/typo3/sysext/core/Classes/Utility/GeneralUtility.php
@@ -818,7 +818,7 @@ class GeneralUtility
             return false;
         }
         if (isset($parsedUrl['host']) && !preg_match('/^[a-z0-9.\\-]*$/i', $parsedUrl['host'])) {
-            $host = (string)idn_to_ascii($parsedUrl['host']);
+            $host = idn_to_ascii($parsedUrl['host']);
             if ($host === false) {
                 return false;
             }