diff --git a/framework/CHANGELOG.md b/framework/CHANGELOG.md
index 09d3066e7b5..08982f47655 100644
--- a/framework/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/framework/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ Yii Framework 2 Change Log
 2.0.51 under development
 ------------------------
 
+- Bug #20191: Fix `ActiveRecord::getDirtyAttributes()` for JSON columns with multi-dimensional array values (brandonkelly)
 - Bug #20175: Fix bad result for pagination when used with GridView (@lav45)
 
 
diff --git a/framework/db/BaseActiveRecord.php b/framework/db/BaseActiveRecord.php
index 54e5fce3ef0..10021e362cc 100644
--- a/framework/db/BaseActiveRecord.php
+++ b/framework/db/BaseActiveRecord.php
@@ -1781,9 +1781,15 @@ private function setRelationDependencies($name, $relation, $viaRelationName = nu
      */
     private function isValueDifferent($newValue, $oldValue)
     {
-        if (is_array($newValue) && is_array($oldValue) && ArrayHelper::isAssociative($oldValue)) {
-            $newValue = ArrayHelper::recursiveSort($newValue);
-            $oldValue = ArrayHelper::recursiveSort($oldValue);
+        if (is_array($newValue) && is_array($oldValue)) {
+            // Only sort associative arrays
+            $sorter = function(&$array) {
+                if (ArrayHelper::isAssociative($array)) {
+                    ksort($array);
+                }
+            };
+            $newValue = ArrayHelper::recursiveSort($newValue, $sorter);
+            $oldValue = ArrayHelper::recursiveSort($oldValue, $sorter);
         }
 
         return $newValue !== $oldValue;
diff --git a/tests/framework/db/BaseActiveRecordTest.php b/tests/framework/db/BaseActiveRecordTest.php
index 1ef9013aa77..a06fc68d992 100644
--- a/tests/framework/db/BaseActiveRecordTest.php
+++ b/tests/framework/db/BaseActiveRecordTest.php
@@ -28,6 +28,10 @@ public function provideArrayValueWithChange()
                 ['pineapple' => 2, 'apple' => 5, 'banana' => 1],
                 ['pineapple' => 2, 'apple' => 3, 'banana' => 1],
             ],
+            'multi-dimensional array' => [
+                ['foo' => ['c', 'b', 'a']],
+                ['foo' => ['b', 'c', 'a']],
+            ],
 
             'filling an empty array' => [
                 [],