diff --git a/src/middleware/index.js b/src/middleware/index.js
index 96bd3da398..e4c8cc98ec 100644
--- a/src/middleware/index.js
+++ b/src/middleware/index.js
@@ -102,11 +102,20 @@ middleware.pluginHooks = helpers.try(async (req, res, next) => {
 });
 
 middleware.validateFiles = function validateFiles(req, res, next) {
-	if (!Array.isArray(req.files.files) || !req.files.files.length) {
+	if (!req.files.files) {
 		return next(new Error(['[[error:invalid-files]]']));
 	}
 
-	next();
+	if (Array.isArray(req.files.files) && req.files.files.length) {
+		return next();
+	}
+
+	if (typeof req.files.files === 'object') {
+		req.files.files = [req.files.files];
+		return next();
+	}
+
+	return next(new Error(['[[error:invalid-files]]']));
 };
 
 middleware.prepareAPI = function prepareAPI(req, res, next) {
diff --git a/test/helpers/index.js b/test/helpers/index.js
index 6ca11e9252..dd52e35f80 100644
--- a/test/helpers/index.js
+++ b/test/helpers/index.js
@@ -121,7 +121,6 @@ helpers.uploadFile = function (uploadEndPoint, filePath, body, jar, csrf_token,
 	let formData = {
 		files: [
 			fs.createReadStream(filePath),
-			fs.createReadStream(filePath), // see https://github.com/request/request/issues/2445
 		],
 	};
 	formData = utils.merge(formData, body);
diff --git a/test/uploads.js b/test/uploads.js
index 5be0818b5e..11aea1bedd 100644
--- a/test/uploads.js
+++ b/test/uploads.js
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ describe('Upload Controllers', () => {
 			meta.config.allowedFileExtensions = 'png,jpg,bmp,html';
 			require('../src/middleware/uploads').clearCache();
 			// why / 2? see: helpers.uploadFile for a weird quirk where we actually upload 2 files per upload in our tests.
-			const times = (meta.config.uploadRateLimitThreshold / 2) + 1;
+			const times = (meta.config.uploadRateLimitThreshold) + 1;
 			async.timesSeries(times, (i, next) => {
 				helpers.uploadFile(`${nconf.get('url')}/api/post/upload`, path.join(__dirname, '../test/files/503.html'), {}, jar, csrf_token, (err, res, body) => {
 					if (i + 1 >= times) {
@@ -522,7 +522,7 @@ describe('Upload Controllers', () => {
 			it('should return files with no post associated with them', async () => {
 				const orphans = await posts.uploads.getOrphans();
 
-				assert.strictEqual(orphans.length, 2);
+				assert.strictEqual(orphans.length, 1);
 				orphans.forEach((relPath) => {
 					assert(relPath.startsWith('files/'));
 					assert(relPath.endsWith('test.png'));
@@ -553,7 +553,7 @@ describe('Upload Controllers', () => {
 				await posts.uploads.cleanOrphans();
 				const orphans = await posts.uploads.getOrphans();
 
-				assert.strictEqual(orphans.length, 2);
+				assert.strictEqual(orphans.length, 1);
 			});
 
 			it('should not touch orphans if they are newer than the configured expiry', async () => {
@@ -561,7 +561,7 @@ describe('Upload Controllers', () => {
 				await posts.uploads.cleanOrphans();
 				const orphans = await posts.uploads.getOrphans();
 
-				assert.strictEqual(orphans.length, 2);
+				assert.strictEqual(orphans.length, 1);
 			});
 
 			it('should delete orphans older than the configured number of days', async () => {