diff --git a/docs/changes.txt b/docs/changes.txt
index 50eb4876dc..1ca467f0b9 100644
--- a/docs/changes.txt
+++ b/docs/changes.txt
@@ -260,6 +260,7 @@ All (GUI):
 - Fix return value of wxAuiToolBarItem::GetDisabledBitmap() (taler21, #23666).
 - Fix buffer overflow in wxHTMLDataObject::GetDataHere() (mcorino, #23660).
 - Fix crash when loading some mal-formed GIFs (PB, #23409).
+- Relax checks on character entry in numeric validators (#12968, #23561).
 
 wxGTK:
 
diff --git a/include/wx/valnum.h b/include/wx/valnum.h
index 75041a1ce4..95fd1a72f2 100644
--- a/include/wx/valnum.h
+++ b/include/wx/valnum.h
@@ -101,8 +101,9 @@ private:
     // this function.
     virtual bool IsCharOk(const wxString& val, int pos, wxChar ch) const = 0;
 
-    // NormalizeString the contents of the string if it's a valid number, return
-    // empty string otherwise.
+    // Return the canonical form of the number corresponding to the contents of
+    // the string: if the input string is invalid, return a string representing
+    // some valid value.
     virtual wxString NormalizeString(const wxString& s) const = 0;
 
 
@@ -239,8 +240,23 @@ protected:
     virtual wxString NormalizeString(const wxString& s) const wxOVERRIDE
     {
         LongestValueType value;
-        return BaseValidator::FromString(s, &value) ? NormalizeValue(value)
-                                                    : wxString();
+        if ( !BaseValidator::FromString(s, &value) )
+        {
+            // We don't have any valid number at all, just arbitrarily decide
+            // to return the minimum value.
+            value = static_cast<LongestValueType>(m_min);
+        }
+        else if ( !this->IsInRange(value) )
+        {
+            // We do have a value, but it's out of range: clamp it to the
+            // closest limit.
+            if ( value > static_cast<LongestValueType>(m_max) )
+                value = static_cast<LongestValueType>(m_max);
+            else
+                value = static_cast<LongestValueType>(m_min);
+        }
+
+        return NormalizeValue(value);
     }
 
     virtual bool CanBeNegative() const wxOVERRIDE { return m_min < 0; }
diff --git a/src/common/valnum.cpp b/src/common/valnum.cpp
index b2db43d95b..cb43d5844d 100644
--- a/src/common/valnum.cpp
+++ b/src/common/valnum.cpp
@@ -264,19 +264,19 @@ wxIntegerValidatorBase::FromString(const wxString& s,
 }
 
 bool
-wxIntegerValidatorBase::IsCharOk(const wxString& val, int pos, wxChar ch) const
+wxIntegerValidatorBase::IsCharOk(const wxString& WXUNUSED(val),
+                                 int WXUNUSED(pos),
+                                 wxChar ch) const
 {
     // We only accept digits here (remember that '-' is taken care of by the
     // base class already).
     if ( ch < '0' || ch > '9' )
         return false;
 
-    // And the value after insertion needs to be in the defined range.
-    LongestValueType value;
-    if ( !FromString(GetValueAfterInsertingChar(val, pos, ch), &value) )
-        return false;
-
-    return IsInRange(value);
+    // Accept anything that looks like a number here, notably do _not_ call
+    // IsInRange() because this would prevent entering any digits in an
+    // initially empty control limited to the values between "10" and "20".
+    return true;
 }
 
 // ============================================================================
@@ -342,7 +342,8 @@ wxFloatingPointValidatorBase::IsCharOk(const wxString& val,
     if ( ch < '0' || ch > '9' )
         return false;
 
-    // Check whether the value we'd obtain if we accepted this key is correct.
+    // Check whether the value we'd obtain if we accepted this key passes some
+    // basic checks.
     const wxString newval(GetValueAfterInsertingChar(val, pos, ch));
 
     LongestValueType value;
@@ -354,8 +355,9 @@ wxFloatingPointValidatorBase::IsCharOk(const wxString& val,
     if ( posSep != wxString::npos && newval.length() - posSep - 1 > m_precision )
         return false;
 
-    // Finally check whether it is in the range.
-    return IsInRange(value);
+    // Note that we do _not_ check if it's in range here, see the comment in
+    // wxIntegerValidatorBase::IsCharOk().
+    return true;
 }
 
 #endif // wxUSE_VALIDATORS && wxUSE_TEXTCTRL
diff --git a/tests/validators/valnum.cpp b/tests/validators/valnum.cpp
index a937a99797..24d0b204b5 100644
--- a/tests/validators/valnum.cpp
+++ b/tests/validators/valnum.cpp
@@ -343,9 +343,27 @@ TEST_CASE_METHOD(NumValidatorTestCase, "ValNum::Interactive", "[valnum]")
     wxYield();
     CHECK( text2->GetValue() == "9" );
 
+    // Entering a value which is out of range is allowed.
     sim.Char('9');
     wxYield();
-    CHECK( text2->GetValue() == "9" );
+    CHECK( text2->GetValue() == "99" );
+
+    // But it must be clamped to the valid range on focus loss.
+    m_text->SetFocus();
+    wxYield();
+    CHECK( text2->GetValue() == "10.000" );
+
+    // Repeat the test with a too small invalid value.
+    text2->Clear();
+    text2->SetFocus();
+
+    sim.Text("-22");
+    wxYield();
+    CHECK( text2->GetValue() == "-22" );
+
+    m_text->SetFocus();
+    wxYield();
+    CHECK( text2->GetValue() == "-10.000" );
 }
 
 #endif // wxUSE_UIACTIONSIMULATOR