diff --git a/src/wp-includes/class-http.php b/src/wp-includes/class-http.php
index 17b971116d..d3c1fe850b 100644
--- a/src/wp-includes/class-http.php
+++ b/src/wp-includes/class-http.php
@@ -682,11 +682,11 @@ class WP_Http {
 	 *
 	 * @since 4.1.0
 	 *
-	 * @access private
+	 * @access protected
 	 * @param  string $url The URL to parse
 	 * @return bool|array False on failure; Array of URL components on success; See parse_url()'s return values.
 	 */
-	private static function parse_url( $url ) {
+	protected static function parse_url( $url ) {
 		$parts = @parse_url( $url );
 		if ( ! $parts ) {
 			// < PHP 5.4.7 compat, trouble with relative paths including a scheme break in the path
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/tests/http/http.php b/tests/phpunit/tests/http/http.php
index b30eea54f6..1b536044aa 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/tests/http/http.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/tests/http/http.php
@@ -66,4 +66,49 @@ class Tests_HTTP_HTTP extends WP_UnitTestCase {
 			array( '//example.com/sub/', 'https://example.net', 'https://example.com/sub/' ),
 		);
 	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @dataProvider parse_url_testcases
+	 */
+	function test_parse_url( $url, $expected ) {
+		if ( ! is_callable( array( 'WP_HTTP_Testable', 'parse_url' ) ) ) {
+			$this->markTestSkipped( "This version of WP_HTTP doesn't support WP_HTTP::parse_url()" );
+			return;
+		}
+		$actual = WP_HTTP_Testable::parse_url( $url );
+		$this->assertEquals( $expected, $actual );
+	}
+
+	function parse_url_testcases() {
+		// 0: The URL, 1: The expected resulting structure
+		return array(
+			array( 'http://example.com/', array( 'scheme' => 'http', 'host' => 'example.com', 'path' => '/' ) ),
+
+			// < PHP 5.4.7: Schemeless URL
+			array( '//example.com/path/', array( 'host' => 'example.com', 'path' => '/path/' ) ),
+			array( '//example.com/', array( 'host' => 'example.com', 'path' => '/' ) ),
+			array( 'http://example.com//path/', array( 'scheme' => 'http', 'host' => 'example.com', 'path' => '//path/' ) ),
+
+			// < PHP 5.4.7: Scheme seperator in the URL
+			array( 'http://example.com/http://example.net/', array( 'scheme' => 'http', 'host' => 'example.com', 'path' => '/http://example.net/' ) ),
+			array( '/path/http://example.net/', array( 'path' => '/path/http://example.net/' ) ),
+			// PHP's parse_url() calls this an invalid url, we handle it as a path
+			array( '/://example.com/', array( 'path' => '/://example.com/' ) ),
+
+		);
+		/*
+		Untestable edge cases in various PHP:
+		  - ///example.com - Fails in PHP >= 5.4.7, assumed path in <5.4.7
+		  - ://example.com - assumed path in PHP >= 5.4.7, fails in <5.4.7
+		*/
+	}
 }
+
+/**
+ * A Wrapper of WP_HTTP to make parse_url() publicaly accessible for testing purposes.
+ */
+class WP_HTTP_Testable extends WP_HTTP {
+	public static function parse_url( $url ) {
+		return parent::parse_url( $url );
+	}
+}
\ No newline at end of file