diff --git a/system/Format/Exceptions/FormatException.php b/system/Format/Exceptions/FormatException.php
index cde333b1292c..7c7e2168c69a 100644
--- a/system/Format/Exceptions/FormatException.php
+++ b/system/Format/Exceptions/FormatException.php
@@ -57,6 +57,17 @@ public static function forInvalidMime(string $mime)
         return new static(lang('Format.invalidMime', [$mime]));
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Thrown in XMLFormatter when a value cannot be converted
+     * to a string.
+     *
+     * @return static
+     */
+    public static function forInvalidXMLValue(string $type)
+    {
+        return new static(lang('Format.invalidXMLValue', [$type]));
+    }
+
     /**
      * Thrown on XMLFormatter when the `simplexml` extension
      * is not installed.
diff --git a/system/Format/XMLFormatter.php b/system/Format/XMLFormatter.php
index 5ef2908858b7..3a2e8a6f20a9 100644
--- a/system/Format/XMLFormatter.php
+++ b/system/Format/XMLFormatter.php
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 use CodeIgniter\Format\Exceptions\FormatException;
 use Config\Format;
 use SimpleXMLElement;
+use Stringable;
 
 /**
  * XML data formatter
@@ -68,7 +69,11 @@ protected function arrayToXML(array $data, &$output)
                 $subnode = $output->addChild("{$key}");
                 $this->arrayToXML($value, $subnode);
             } else {
-                $output->addChild("{$key}", htmlspecialchars("{$value}"));
+                if (is_object($value) && ! $value instanceof Stringable) {
+                    throw FormatException::forInvalidXMLValue($value::class);
+                }
+
+                $output->addChild("{$key}", htmlspecialchars((string) $value));
             }
         }
     }
@@ -98,6 +103,8 @@ protected function normalizeXMLTag($key)
         $key = preg_replace("/[^{$validName}-]+/u", '', $key);
         $key = preg_replace("/^[^{$startChar}]+/u", 'item$0', $key);
 
-        return preg_replace('/^(xml).*/iu', 'item$0', $key); // XML is a reserved starting word
+        $key = preg_replace('/^(xml).*/iu', 'item$0', $key); // XML is a reserved starting word
+
+        return $key === '' ? 'item' : $key;
     }
 }
diff --git a/system/Language/en/Format.php b/system/Language/en/Format.php
index 7d792e2b6128..1f217798afe3 100644
--- a/system/Language/en/Format.php
+++ b/system/Language/en/Format.php
@@ -16,5 +16,6 @@
     'invalidFormatter' => '"{0}" is not a valid Formatter class.',
     'invalidJSON'      => 'Failed to parse JSON string. Error: {0}',
     'invalidMime'      => 'No Formatter defined for mime type: "{0}".',
+    'invalidXMLValue'  => 'Cannot convert the value of type "{0}" to a string for XML output.',
     'missingExtension' => 'The SimpleXML extension is required to format XML.',
 ];
diff --git a/tests/system/Format/XMLFormatterTest.php b/tests/system/Format/XMLFormatterTest.php
index 107418a5d68c..f86aa95d1feb 100644
--- a/tests/system/Format/XMLFormatterTest.php
+++ b/tests/system/Format/XMLFormatterTest.php
@@ -13,10 +13,13 @@
 
 namespace CodeIgniter\Format;
 
+use CodeIgniter\Format\Exceptions\FormatException;
 use CodeIgniter\Test\CIUnitTestCase;
 use DOMDocument;
 use PHPUnit\Framework\Attributes\DataProvider;
 use PHPUnit\Framework\Attributes\Group;
+use stdClass;
+use Stringable;
 
 /**
  * @internal
@@ -152,6 +155,51 @@ public static function provideValidatingInvalidTags(): iterable
         ];
     }
 
+    public function testEmptyTagNameAfterSanitization(): void
+    {
+        $data = [
+            '!@#' => 'value',
+        ];
+
+        $expected = <<<'EOH'
+            <?xml version="1.0"?>
+            <response><item>value</item></response>
+
+            EOH;
+
+        $this->assertSame($expected, $this->xmlFormatter->format($data));
+    }
+
+    public function testStringableObjectValue(): void
+    {
+        $value = new class () implements Stringable {
+            public function __toString(): string
+            {
+                return 'bar';
+            }
+        };
+
+        $data = [
+            'foo' => $value,
+        ];
+
+        $expected = <<<'EOH'
+            <?xml version="1.0"?>
+            <response><foo>bar</foo></response>
+
+            EOH;
+
+        $this->assertSame($expected, $this->xmlFormatter->format($data));
+    }
+
+    public function testNonStringableObjectValueThrows(): void
+    {
+        $this->expectException(FormatException::class);
+        $this->expectExceptionMessage('Cannot convert the value of type "stdClass" to a string for XML output.');
+
+        $this->xmlFormatter->format(['foo' => new stdClass()]);
+    }
+
     public function testDeepNestedArrayToXml(): void
     {
         $data = [
diff --git a/user_guide_src/source/changelogs/v4.7.6.rst b/user_guide_src/source/changelogs/v4.7.6.rst
index 360221806c4f..029fa79286e5 100644
--- a/user_guide_src/source/changelogs/v4.7.6.rst
+++ b/user_guide_src/source/changelogs/v4.7.6.rst
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ BREAKING
 Message Changes
 ***************
 
+- Added the ``Format.invalidXMLValue`` language string.
+
 *******
 Changes
 *******
@@ -31,6 +33,11 @@ Bugs Fixed
 **********
 
 - **Commands:** Fixed a bug where generator commands did not sort the imports of a template with CRLF line endings.
+- **Format:** Fixed ``XMLFormatter`` so that an array key that becomes empty after
+  sanitization no longer triggers a ``ValueError``; the fallback tag name ``item``
+  is used instead. Values that cannot be converted to a string, such as objects
+  not implementing ``Stringable``, now throw a ``FormatException`` instead of a
+  fatal ``Error``.
 - **Security:** Fixed a bug where a valid JSON request body that is not an object
   (for example a JSON array) was corrupted after CSRF verification when the
   token was sent via the ``X-CSRF-TOKEN`` header.