diff --git a/spring-session-docs/modules/ROOT/pages/configuration/jdbc.adoc b/spring-session-docs/modules/ROOT/pages/configuration/jdbc.adoc
index 07b72eac8..7406949ef 100644
--- a/spring-session-docs/modules/ROOT/pages/configuration/jdbc.adoc
+++ b/spring-session-docs/modules/ROOT/pages/configuration/jdbc.adoc
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ public class QueryCustomizer
 
     private static final String UPDATE_SESSION_ATTRIBUTE_QUERY = """
 		UPDATE %TABLE_NAME%_ATTRIBUTES
-		SET ATTRIBUTE_BYTES = encode(?, 'escape')::jsonb
+		SET ATTRIBUTE_BYTES = convert_from(?, 'UTF8')::jsonb
 		WHERE SESSION_PRIMARY_ID = ?
 		AND ATTRIBUTE_NAME = ?
 		""";
@@ -309,12 +309,12 @@ public class SessionConfig {
 
     private static final String CREATE_SESSION_ATTRIBUTE_QUERY = """
             INSERT INTO %TABLE_NAME%_ATTRIBUTES (SESSION_PRIMARY_ID, ATTRIBUTE_NAME, ATTRIBUTE_BYTES)
-            VALUES (?, ?, encode(?, 'escape')::jsonb) <1>
+            VALUES (?, ?, convert_from(?, 'UTF8')::jsonb) <1>
             """;
 
     private static final String UPDATE_SESSION_ATTRIBUTE_QUERY = """
             UPDATE %TABLE_NAME%_ATTRIBUTES
-            SET ATTRIBUTE_BYTES = encode(?, 'escape')::jsonb
+            SET ATTRIBUTE_BYTES = convert_from(?, 'UTF8')::jsonb
             WHERE SESSION_PRIMARY_ID = ?
             AND ATTRIBUTE_NAME = ?
             """;
diff --git a/spring-session-samples/spring-session-sample-boot-jdbc-json-attribute/src/main/java/sample/config/SessionConfig.java b/spring-session-samples/spring-session-sample-boot-jdbc-json-attribute/src/main/java/sample/config/SessionConfig.java
index 817d17a05..5c9acc630 100644
--- a/spring-session-samples/spring-session-sample-boot-jdbc-json-attribute/src/main/java/sample/config/SessionConfig.java
+++ b/spring-session-samples/spring-session-sample-boot-jdbc-json-attribute/src/main/java/sample/config/SessionConfig.java
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ public class SessionConfig implements BeanClassLoaderAware {
 
 	private static final String CREATE_SESSION_ATTRIBUTE_QUERY = """
 			INSERT INTO %TABLE_NAME%_ATTRIBUTES (SESSION_PRIMARY_ID, ATTRIBUTE_NAME, ATTRIBUTE_BYTES)
-			VALUES (?, ?, encode(?, 'escape')::jsonb)
+			VALUES (?, ?, convert_from(?, 'UTF8')::jsonb)
 			""";
 
 	private static final String UPDATE_SESSION_ATTRIBUTE_QUERY = """
diff --git a/spring-session-samples/spring-session-sample-boot-jdbc-json-attribute/src/test/java/sample/JdbcJsonAttributeTests.java b/spring-session-samples/spring-session-sample-boot-jdbc-json-attribute/src/test/java/sample/JdbcJsonAttributeTests.java
index 0a1ee9cb3..25abb6a1a 100644
--- a/spring-session-samples/spring-session-sample-boot-jdbc-json-attribute/src/test/java/sample/JdbcJsonAttributeTests.java
+++ b/spring-session-samples/spring-session-sample-boot-jdbc-json-attribute/src/test/java/sample/JdbcJsonAttributeTests.java
@@ -1,17 +1,14 @@
 package sample;
 
-import java.sql.Types;
 import java.util.Base64;
-import java.util.List;
-import java.util.Map;
 
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
 import jakarta.servlet.http.Cookie;
-import org.assertj.core.api.Assertions;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
+import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.security.SecurityProperties;
 import org.springframework.boot.test.autoconfigure.web.servlet.AutoConfigureMockMvc;
 import org.springframework.boot.test.context.SpringBootTest;
 import org.springframework.context.annotation.Import;
@@ -40,6 +37,13 @@ class JdbcJsonAttributeTests {
 	@Autowired
 	JdbcClient jdbcClient;
 
+	String username;
+
+	@Autowired
+	void setSecurityProperties(SecurityProperties securityProperties) {
+		this.username = securityProperties.getUser().getName();
+	}
+
 	@BeforeEach
 	void setup() {
 		ObjectMapper copy = this.objectMapper.copy();
@@ -51,7 +55,7 @@ void setup() {
 
 	@Test
 	void loginShouldSaveSecurityContextAsJson() throws Exception {
-		Cookie sessionCookie = this.mvc.perform(formLogin().user("user").password("password"))
+		Cookie sessionCookie = this.mvc.perform(formLogin().user(this.username).password("password"))
 			.andExpect(authenticated())
 			.andReturn()
 			.getResponse()
@@ -66,20 +70,20 @@ void loginShouldSaveSecurityContextAsJson() throws Exception {
 		SecurityContext securityContext = this.objectMapperWithModules.readValue((String) attributeBytes,
 				SecurityContext.class);
 		assertThat(securityContext).isNotNull();
-		assertThat(securityContext.getAuthentication().getName()).isEqualTo("user");
+		assertThat(securityContext.getAuthentication().getName()).isEqualTo(this.username);
 	}
 
 	@Test
 	void loginWhenQueryUsingJsonbOperatorThenReturns() throws Exception {
-		this.mvc.perform(formLogin().user("user").password("password")).andExpect(authenticated());
+		this.mvc.perform(formLogin().user(this.username).password("password")).andExpect(authenticated());
 		Object attributeBytes = this.jdbcClient.sql("""
 				SELECT attribute_bytes::text FROM spring_session_attributes
-				WHERE attribute_bytes -> 'authentication' -> 'principal' ->> 'username' = 'user'
-				""").query().singleValue();
+				WHERE attribute_bytes -> 'authentication' -> 'principal' ->> 'username' = '%s'
+				""".formatted(this.username)).query().singleValue();
 		SecurityContext securityContext = this.objectMapperWithModules.readValue((String) attributeBytes,
 				SecurityContext.class);
 		assertThat(securityContext).isNotNull();
-		assertThat(securityContext.getAuthentication().getName()).isEqualTo("user");
+		assertThat(securityContext.getAuthentication().getName()).isEqualTo(this.username);
 	}
 
 }
diff --git a/spring-session-samples/spring-session-sample-boot-jdbc-json-attribute/src/test/java/sample/JdbcJsonSpecialCharsAttributeTests.java b/spring-session-samples/spring-session-sample-boot-jdbc-json-attribute/src/test/java/sample/JdbcJsonSpecialCharsAttributeTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..00b1c1e7f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-session-samples/spring-session-sample-boot-jdbc-json-attribute/src/test/java/sample/JdbcJsonSpecialCharsAttributeTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2014-2022 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package sample;
+
+import org.springframework.test.context.TestPropertySource;
+
+/**
+ * Test that special characters in usernames work.
+ *
+ * @author Rob Winch
+ */
+@TestPropertySource(properties = "spring.security.user.name=rüdiger")
+class JdbcJsonSpecialCharsAttributeTests extends JdbcJsonAttributeTests {
+
+}