diff --git a/CHANGELOG.txt b/CHANGELOG.txt
index ee31c1153cc..4b7aaf2dd52 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.txt
+++ b/CHANGELOG.txt
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 Drupal 5.20-dev xxxx-xx-xx
 -----------------------
+- The 'access' element for hook_menu() now interprets Drupal 6 style values,
+  like array('access content').
 
 Drupal 5.19, 2009-07-01
 -----------------------
diff --git a/includes/menu.inc b/includes/menu.inc
index 8660343a6d3..d46718a94c0 100644
--- a/includes/menu.inc
+++ b/includes/menu.inc
@@ -1055,6 +1055,10 @@ function _menu_build() {
   $temp_mid = -1;
 
   foreach ($menu_item_list as $item) {
+    // Protect against D6 style access
+    if (isset($item['access']) && is_array($item['access']) && count($item['access']) == 1 && isset($item['access'][0]) && is_string($item['access'][0])) {
+      $item['access'] = FALSE;
+    }
     if (!isset($item['path'])) {
       $item['path'] = '';
     }
@@ -1225,6 +1229,10 @@ function _menu_append_contextual_items() {
   $new_items = array();
 
   foreach ($menu_item_list as $item) {
+    // Protect against D6 style access
+    if (isset($item['access']) && is_array($item['access']) && count($item['access']) == 1 && isset($item['access'][0]) && is_string($item['access'][0])) {
+      $item['access'] = FALSE;
+    }
     if (isset($item['callback'])) {
       $_menu['callbacks'][$item['path']] = array('callback' => $item['callback']);
       if (isset($item['callback arguments'])) {