diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/JsonPath/JsonCrawler.php b/src/Symfony/Component/JsonPath/JsonCrawler.php
index b1d7ef0bf94d8..492f56e77bba7 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/JsonPath/JsonCrawler.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/JsonPath/JsonCrawler.php
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@ private function evaluateBracket(string $expr, mixed $value): array
 
         // quoted strings for object keys
         if (preg_match('/^([\'"])(.*)\1$/', $expr, $matches)) {
-            $key = stripslashes($matches[2]);
+            $key = JsonPathUtils::unescapeString($matches[2], $matches[1]);
 
             return \array_key_exists($key, $value) ? [$value[$key]] : [];
         }
@@ -335,7 +335,7 @@ private function evaluateScalar(string $expr, array $context): mixed
 
         // string literals
         if (preg_match('/^([\'"])(.*)\1$/', $expr, $matches)) {
-            return $matches[2];
+            return JsonPathUtils::unescapeString($matches[2], $matches[1]);
         }
 
         // current node references
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/JsonPath/JsonCrawlerInterface.php b/src/Symfony/Component/JsonPath/JsonCrawlerInterface.php
index 3e8a222f0ba8e..4859c2bde076b 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/JsonPath/JsonCrawlerInterface.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/JsonPath/JsonCrawlerInterface.php
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ interface JsonCrawlerInterface
      * @return list<array|string|float|int|bool|null>
      *
      * @throws InvalidArgumentException When the JSON string provided to the crawler cannot be decoded
-     * @throws JsonCrawlerException When a syntax error occurs in the provided JSON path
+     * @throws JsonCrawlerException     When a syntax error occurs in the provided JSON path
      */
     public function find(string|JsonPath $query): array;
 }
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/JsonPath/JsonPath.php b/src/Symfony/Component/JsonPath/JsonPath.php
index e716167eb3f64..e36fc9ffd2ef1 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/JsonPath/JsonPath.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/JsonPath/JsonPath.php
@@ -92,12 +92,12 @@ private function escapeKey(string $key): string
             "\r" => '\\r',
             "\t" => '\\t',
             "\b" => '\\b',
-            "\f" => '\\f'
+            "\f" => '\\f',
         ]);
 
-        for ($i = 0; $i <= 31; $i++) {
+        for ($i = 0; $i <= 31; ++$i) {
             if ($i < 8 || $i > 13) {
-                $key = str_replace(chr($i), sprintf('\\u%04x', $i), $key);
+                $key = str_replace(\chr($i), \sprintf('\\u%04x', $i), $key);
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/JsonPath/JsonPathUtils.php b/src/Symfony/Component/JsonPath/JsonPathUtils.php
index b5ac2ae6b8d0a..6f971d20115b2 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/JsonPath/JsonPathUtils.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/JsonPath/JsonPathUtils.php
@@ -85,4 +85,78 @@ public static function findSmallestDeserializableStringAndPath(array $tokens, mi
             'tokens' => $remainingTokens,
         ];
     }
+
+    public static function unescapeString(string $str, string $quoteChar): string
+    {
+        if ('"' === $quoteChar) {
+            // try JSON decoding first for unicode sequences
+            $jsonStr = '"'.$str.'"';
+            $decoded = json_decode($jsonStr, true);
+
+            if (null !== $decoded) {
+                return $decoded;
+            }
+        }
+
+        $result = '';
+        $length = \strlen($str);
+
+        for ($i = 0; $i < $length; ++$i) {
+            if ('\\' === $str[$i] && $i + 1 < $length) {
+                $result .= match ($str[$i + 1]) {
+                    '"' => '"',
+                    "'" => "'",
+                    '\\' => '\\',
+                    '/' => '/',
+                    'b' => "\b",
+                    'f' => "\f",
+                    'n' => "\n",
+                    'r' => "\r",
+                    't' => "\t",
+                    'u' => self::unescapeUnicodeSequence($str, $length, $i),
+                    default => $str[$i].$str[$i + 1], // keep the backslash
+                };
+
+                ++$i;
+            } else {
+                $result .= $str[$i];
+            }
+        }
+
+        return $result;
+    }
+
+    private static function unescapeUnicodeSequence(string $str, int $length, int &$i): string
+    {
+        if ($i + 5 >= $length) {
+            // not enough characters for Unicode escape, treat as literal
+            return $str[$i];
+        }
+
+        $hex = substr($str, $i + 2, 4);
+        if (!ctype_xdigit($hex)) {
+            // invalid hex, treat as literal
+            return $str[$i];
+        }
+
+        $codepoint = hexdec($hex);
+        // looks like a valid Unicode codepoint, string length is sufficient and it starts with \u
+        if (0xD800 <= $codepoint && $codepoint <= 0xDBFF && $i + 11 < $length && '\\' === $str[$i + 6] && 'u' === $str[$i + 7]) {
+            $lowHex = substr($str, $i + 8, 4);
+            if (ctype_xdigit($lowHex)) {
+                $lowSurrogate = hexdec($lowHex);
+                if (0xDC00 <= $lowSurrogate && $lowSurrogate <= 0xDFFF) {
+                    $codepoint = 0x10000 + (($codepoint & 0x3FF) << 10) + ($lowSurrogate & 0x3FF);
+                    $i += 10; // skip surrogate pair
+
+                    return mb_chr($codepoint, 'UTF-8');
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        // single Unicode character or invalid surrogate, skip the sequence
+        $i += 4;
+
+        return mb_chr($codepoint, 'UTF-8');
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/JsonPath/Tests/JsonCrawlerTest.php b/src/Symfony/Component/JsonPath/Tests/JsonCrawlerTest.php
index 66ccfc2642141..213ae06afa7db 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/JsonPath/Tests/JsonCrawlerTest.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/JsonPath/Tests/JsonCrawlerTest.php
@@ -465,6 +465,251 @@ public function testStarAsKey()
         $this->assertSame(['a' => 1, 'b' => 2], $result[0]);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * @dataProvider provideUnicodeEscapeSequencesProvider
+     */
+    public function testUnicodeEscapeSequences(string $jsonPath, array $expected)
+    {
+        $this->assertSame($expected, self::getUnicodeDocumentCrawler()->find($jsonPath));
+    }
+
+    public static function provideUnicodeEscapeSequencesProvider(): array
+    {
+        return [
+            [
+                '$["caf\u00e9"]',
+                ['coffee'],
+            ],
+            [
+                '$["\u65e5\u672c"]',
+                ['Japan'],
+            ],
+            [
+                '$["M\u00fcller"]',
+                [],
+            ],
+            [
+                '$["emoji\ud83d\ude00"]',
+                ['smiley'],
+            ],
+            [
+                '$["tab\there"]',
+                ['with tab'],
+            ],
+            [
+                '$["new\nline"]',
+                ['with newline'],
+            ],
+            [
+                '$["quote\"here"]',
+                ['with quote'],
+            ],
+            [
+                '$["backslash\\\\here"]',
+                ['with backslash'],
+            ],
+            [
+                '$["apostrophe\'here"]',
+                ['with apostrophe'],
+            ],
+            [
+                '$["control\u0001char"]',
+                ['with control char'],
+            ],
+            [
+                '$["\u0063af\u00e9"]',
+                ['coffee'],
+            ],
+        ];
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @dataProvider provideSingleQuotedStringProvider
+     */
+    public function testSingleQuotedStrings(string $jsonPath, array $expected)
+    {
+        $this->assertSame($expected, self::getUnicodeDocumentCrawler()->find($jsonPath));
+    }
+
+    public static function provideSingleQuotedStringProvider(): array
+    {
+        return [
+            [
+                "$['caf\\u00e9']",
+                ['coffee'],
+            ],
+            [
+                "$['\\u65e5\\u672c']",
+                ['Japan'],
+            ],
+            [
+                "$['quote\"here']",
+                ['with quote'],
+            ],
+            [
+                "$['M\\u00fcller']",
+                [],
+            ],
+            [
+                "$['emoji\\ud83d\\ude00']",
+                ['smiley'],
+            ],
+            [
+                "$['tab\\there']",
+                ['with tab'],
+            ],
+            [
+                "$['quote\\\"here']",
+                ['with quote'],
+            ],
+            [
+                "$['backslash\\\\here']",
+                ['with backslash'],
+            ],
+            [
+                "$['apostrophe\\'here']",
+                ['with apostrophe'],
+            ],
+            [
+                "$['control\\u0001char']",
+                ['with control char'],
+            ],
+            [
+                "$['\\u0063af\\u00e9']",
+                ['coffee'],
+            ],
+        ];
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @dataProvider provideFilterWithUnicodeProvider
+     */
+    public function testFilterWithUnicodeStrings(string $jsonPath, int $expectedCount, string $expectedCountry)
+    {
+        $result = self::getUnicodeDocumentCrawler()->find($jsonPath);
+
+        $this->assertCount($expectedCount, $result);
+
+        if ($expectedCount > 0) {
+            $this->assertSame($expectedCountry, $result[0]['country']);
+        }
+    }
+
+    public static function provideFilterWithUnicodeProvider(): array
+    {
+        return [
+            [
+                '$.users[?(@.name == "caf\u00e9")]',
+                1,
+                'France',
+            ],
+            [
+                '$.users[?(@.name == "\u65e5\u672c\u592a\u90ce")]',
+                1,
+                'Japan',
+            ],
+            [
+                '$.users[?(@.name == "Jos\u00e9")]',
+                1,
+                'Spain',
+            ],
+            [
+                '$.users[?(@.name == "John")]',
+                1,
+                'USA',
+            ],
+            [
+                '$.users[?(@.name == "NonExistent\u0020Name")]',
+                0,
+                '',
+            ],
+        ];
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @dataProvider provideInvalidUnicodeSequenceProvider
+     */
+    public function testInvalidUnicodeSequencesAreProcessedAsLiterals(string $jsonPath)
+    {
+        $this->assertIsArray(self::getUnicodeDocumentCrawler()->find($jsonPath), 'invalid unicode sequence should be treated as literal and not throw');
+    }
+
+    public static function provideInvalidUnicodeSequenceProvider(): array
+    {
+        return [
+            [
+                '$["test\uZZZZ"]',
+            ],
+            [
+                '$["test\u123"]',
+            ],
+            [
+                '$["test\u"]',
+            ],
+        ];
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @dataProvider provideComplexUnicodePath
+     */
+    public function testComplexUnicodePaths(string $jsonPath, array $expected)
+    {
+        $complexJson = [
+            'データ' => [
+                'ユーザー' => [
+                    ['名前' => 'テスト', 'ID' => 1],
+                    ['名前' => 'サンプル', 'ID' => 2],
+                ],
+            ],
+            'special🔑' => [
+                'value💎' => 'treasure',
+            ],
+        ];
+
+        $crawler = new JsonCrawler(json_encode($complexJson));
+
+        $this->assertSame($expected, $crawler->find($jsonPath));
+    }
+
+    public static function provideComplexUnicodePath(): array
+    {
+        return [
+            [
+                '$["\u30c7\u30fc\u30bf"]["\u30e6\u30fc\u30b6\u30fc"][0]["\u540d\u524d"]',
+                ['テスト'],
+            ],
+            [
+                '$["special\ud83d\udd11"]["value\ud83d\udc8e"]',
+                ['treasure'],
+            ],
+            [
+                '$["\u30c7\u30fc\u30bf"]["\u30e6\u30fc\u30b6\u30fc"][*]["\u540d\u524d"]',
+                ['テスト', 'サンプル'],
+            ],
+        ];
+    }
+
+    public function testSurrogatePairHandling()
+    {
+        $json = ['𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓁𝑜' => 'mathematical script hello'];
+        $crawler = new JsonCrawler(json_encode($json));
+
+        // mathematical script "hello" requires surrogate pairs for each character
+        $result = $crawler->find('$["\ud835\udcbd\ud835\udc52\ud835\udcc1\ud835\udcc1\ud835\udc5c"]');
+        $this->assertSame(['mathematical script hello'], $result);
+    }
+
+    public function testMixedQuoteTypes()
+    {
+        $json = ['key"with"quotes' => 'value1', "key'with'apostrophes" => 'value2'];
+        $crawler = new JsonCrawler(json_encode($json));
+
+        $result = $crawler->find('$[\'key"with"quotes\']');
+        $this->assertSame(['value1'], $result);
+
+        $result = $crawler->find('$["key\'with\'apostrophes"]');
+        $this->assertSame(['value2'], $result);
+    }
 
     private static function getBookstoreCrawler(): JsonCrawler
     {
@@ -515,4 +760,28 @@ private static function getSimpleCollectionCrawler(): JsonCrawler
 {"a": [3, 5, 1, 2, 4, 6]}
 JSON);
     }
+
+    private static function getUnicodeDocumentCrawler(): JsonCrawler
+    {
+        $json = [
+            'café' => 'coffee',
+            '日本' => 'Japan',
+            'emoji😀' => 'smiley',
+            'tab	here' => 'with tab',
+            "new\nline" => 'with newline',
+            'quote"here' => 'with quote',
+            'backslash\\here' => 'with backslash',
+            'apostrophe\'here' => 'with apostrophe',
+            "control\x01char" => 'with control char',
+            'users' => [
+                ['name' => 'café', 'country' => 'France'],
+                ['name' => '日本太郎', 'country' => 'Japan'],
+                ['name' => 'John', 'country' => 'USA'],
+                ['name' => 'Müller', 'country' => 'Germany'],
+                ['name' => 'José', 'country' => 'Spain'],
+            ],
+        ];
+
+        return new JsonCrawler(json_encode($json));
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/JsonPath/Tests/Test/JsonPathAssertionsTraitTest.php b/src/Symfony/Component/JsonPath/Tests/Test/JsonPathAssertionsTraitTest.php
index 62d64b53e1e8d..1044e7658672b 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/JsonPath/Tests/Test/JsonPathAssertionsTraitTest.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/JsonPath/Tests/Test/JsonPathAssertionsTraitTest.php
@@ -1,5 +1,14 @@
 <?php
 
+/*
+ * This file is part of the Symfony package.
+ *
+ * (c) Fabien Potencier <fabien@symfony.com>
+ *
+ * For the full copyright and license information, please view the LICENSE
+ * file that was distributed with this source code.
+ */
+
 namespace Symfony\Component\JsonPath\Tests\Test;
 
 use PHPUnit\Framework\AssertionFailedError;
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/JsonPath/composer.json b/src/Symfony/Component/JsonPath/composer.json
index fe8ddf84dd82d..feb8158aa5be2 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/JsonPath/composer.json
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/JsonPath/composer.json
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
     ],
     "require": {
         "php": ">=8.2",
+        "symfony/polyfill-ctype": "^1.8",
         "symfony/polyfill-mbstring": "~1.0"
     },
     "require-dev": {