diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Core/AssemblyExtensions.cs b/src/Umbraco.Core/AssemblyExtensions.cs
index 666dce18fc..fff444c34a 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Core/AssemblyExtensions.cs
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Core/AssemblyExtensions.cs
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 using System;
+using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.IO;
+using System.Linq;
 using System.Reflection;
 
 namespace Umbraco.Core
@@ -66,5 +68,31 @@ namespace Umbraco.Core
 			return new FileInfo(path);
 		}
 
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Gets the <see cref="AssemblyName"/> objects for all the assemblies recursively referenced by a specified assembly.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <param name="assembly">The assembly.</param>
+        /// <returns>The <see cref="AssemblyName"/> objects for all the assemblies recursively referenced by the specified assembly.</returns>
+        public static IEnumerable<AssemblyName> GetDeepReferencedAssemblies(this Assembly assembly)
+        {
+            var allAssemblies = TypeFinder.GetAllAssemblies();
+            var visiting = new Stack<Assembly>();
+            var visited = new HashSet<Assembly>();
+
+            visiting.Push(assembly);
+            visited.Add(assembly);
+            while (visiting.Count > 0)
+            {
+                var visAsm = visiting.Pop();
+                foreach (var refAsm in visAsm.GetReferencedAssemblies()
+                    .Select(refAsmName => allAssemblies.SingleOrDefault(x => string.Equals(x.GetName().Name, refAsmName.Name, StringComparison.Ordinal)))
+                    .Where(x => x != null && visited.Contains(x) == false))
+                {
+                    yield return refAsm.GetName();
+                    visiting.Push(refAsm);
+                    visited.Add(refAsm);
+                }
+            }
+        }
 	}
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Core/TypeHelper.cs b/src/Umbraco.Core/TypeHelper.cs
index efb525e575..5cb82b3863 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Core/TypeHelper.cs
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Core/TypeHelper.cs
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 using System;
+using System.Collections;
 using System.Collections.Concurrent;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.Linq;
@@ -62,8 +63,17 @@ namespace Umbraco.Core
         /// <returns></returns>
         private static bool HasReferenceToAssemblyWithName(Assembly assembly, string expectedAssemblyName)
         {
+            // The following code was not recursive ie if assembly.1 -> assembly.2 -> assembly.3, and expected is assembly.3,
+            // it would not consider that assembly.1 has a reference to assembly.3. Can cause issues eg when assembly.3
+            // contains an attribute, assembly.2 defines a new attribute that inherit from that attribute, and assembly.1
+            // uses the attribute in assembly.2. When looking for assemblies that have a chance to use the attribute, we
+            // look for assemblies that reference assembly.3, and we would fail to consider assembly.1.
+            //
+            // Better get deep-referenced assemblies. Has an impact on perfs obviously but only when the app starts.
+
             return assembly
-                .GetReferencedAssemblies()
+                //.GetReferencedAssemblies()
+                .GetDeepReferencedAssemblies()
                 .Select(a => a.Name)
                 .Contains(expectedAssemblyName, StringComparer.Ordinal);
         }