diff --git a/actionpack/CHANGELOG.md b/actionpack/CHANGELOG.md
index 7bb9b62468..ca55a063e7 100644
--- a/actionpack/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/actionpack/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+*   Don't override the `Accept` header in integration tests when called with `xhr: true`.
+
+    Fixes #25859.
+
+    *David Chen*
+
 *   Fix 'defaults' option for root route.
 
     A regression from some refactoring for the 5.0 release, this change
diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/testing/integration.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/testing/integration.rb
index 3008d10992..9be3759556 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/testing/integration.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/testing/integration.rb
@@ -366,14 +366,17 @@ module ActionDispatch
             "HTTP_ACCEPT"    => accept
           }
 
+          wrapped_headers = Http::Headers.from_hash({})
+          wrapped_headers.merge!(headers) if headers
+
           if xhr
-            headers["HTTP_X_REQUESTED_WITH"] = "XMLHttpRequest"
-            headers["HTTP_ACCEPT"] ||= [Mime[:js], Mime[:html], Mime[:xml], "text/xml", "*/*"].join(", ")
+            wrapped_headers["HTTP_X_REQUESTED_WITH"] = "XMLHttpRequest"
+            wrapped_headers["HTTP_ACCEPT"] ||= [Mime[:js], Mime[:html], Mime[:xml], "text/xml", "*/*"].join(", ")
           end
 
           # this modifies the passed request_env directly
-          if headers.present?
-            Http::Headers.from_hash(request_env).merge!(headers)
+          if wrapped_headers.present?
+            Http::Headers.from_hash(request_env).merge!(wrapped_headers)
           end
           if env.present?
             Http::Headers.from_hash(request_env).merge!(env)
diff --git a/actionpack/test/controller/integration_test.rb b/actionpack/test/controller/integration_test.rb
index 0d6a441789..210757fb76 100644
--- a/actionpack/test/controller/integration_test.rb
+++ b/actionpack/test/controller/integration_test.rb
@@ -403,6 +403,7 @@ class IntegrationProcessTest < ActionDispatch::IntegrationTest
       respond_to do |format|
         format.html { render plain: "OK", status: 200 }
         format.js { render plain: "JS OK", status: 200 }
+        format.json { render json: "JSON OK", status: 200 }
         format.xml { render xml: "<root></root>", status: 200 }
         format.rss { render xml: "<root></root>", status: 200 }
         format.atom { render xml: "<root></root>", status: 200 }
@@ -727,6 +728,18 @@ class IntegrationProcessTest < ActionDispatch::IntegrationTest
     assert_includes @response.headers, "c"
   end
 
+  def test_accept_not_overriden_when_xhr_true
+    with_test_route_set do
+      get "/get", headers: { "Accept" => "application/json" }, xhr: true
+      assert_equal "application/json", request.accept
+      assert_equal "application/json", response.content_type
+
+      get "/get", headers: { "HTTP_ACCEPT" => "application/json" }, xhr: true
+      assert_equal "application/json", request.accept
+      assert_equal "application/json", response.content_type
+    end
+  end
+
   private
     def with_default_headers(headers)
       original = ActionDispatch::Response.default_headers