diff --git a/content/svg/content/src/nsSVGMpathElement.cpp b/content/svg/content/src/nsSVGMpathElement.cpp
--- a/content/svg/content/src/nsSVGMpathElement.cpp
+++ b/content/svg/content/src/nsSVGMpathElement.cpp
@@ -221,16 +221,17 @@ nsSVGMpathElement::GetReferencedPath()
     NS_ABORT_IF_FALSE(!mHrefTarget.get(),
                       "We shouldn't have an xlink:href target "
                       "if we don't have an xlink:href attribute");
     return nsnull;
   }
 
   nsIContent* genericTarget = mHrefTarget.get();
   if (genericTarget &&
+      genericTarget->GetNameSpaceID() == kNameSpaceID_SVG &&
       genericTarget->Tag() == nsGkAtoms::path) {
     return static_cast<nsSVGPathElement*>(genericTarget);
   }
   return nsnull;
 }
 
 //----------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Protected helper methods
