diff --git a/doc/dbus.doxygen b/doc/dbus.doxygen
index 6f40b2d6c..9deb28df9 100644
--- a/doc/dbus.doxygen
+++ b/doc/dbus.doxygen
@@ -98,10 +98,10 @@ registered in the bus with fi.w1.wpa_supplicant1 name.
 
     <ul>
       <li>
-	<h3>DebugLevel - y - (read/write)</h3>
+	<h3>DebugLevel - s - (read/write)</h3>
 	<p>Global %wpa_supplicant debugging level. Possible values are
-	0 (verbose debugging), 1 (debugging), 2 (informative), 3 (warnings),
-	and 4 (errors).</p>
+	"msgdump" (verbose debugging), "debug" (debugging),
+	"info" (informative), "warning" (warnings), and "error" (errors).</p>
       </li>
 
       <li>
diff --git a/wpa_supplicant/dbus/dbus_new.c b/wpa_supplicant/dbus/dbus_new.c
index 2b2a24c19..1633b9649 100644
--- a/wpa_supplicant/dbus/dbus_new.c
+++ b/wpa_supplicant/dbus/dbus_new.c
@@ -863,7 +863,7 @@ static const struct wpa_dbus_method_desc wpas_dbus_global_methods[] = {
 };
 
 static const struct wpa_dbus_property_desc wpas_dbus_global_properties[] = {
-	{ "DebugLevel", WPAS_DBUS_NEW_INTERFACE, "y",
+	{ "DebugLevel", WPAS_DBUS_NEW_INTERFACE, "s",
 	  (WPADBusPropertyAccessor) wpas_dbus_getter_debug_level,
 	  (WPADBusPropertyAccessor) wpas_dbus_setter_debug_level,
 	  RW
diff --git a/wpa_supplicant/dbus/dbus_new_handlers.c b/wpa_supplicant/dbus/dbus_new_handlers.c
index 5f521d48b..f118e26e3 100644
--- a/wpa_supplicant/dbus/dbus_new_handlers.c
+++ b/wpa_supplicant/dbus/dbus_new_handlers.c
@@ -36,6 +36,10 @@ extern int wpa_debug_level;
 extern int wpa_debug_show_keys;
 extern int wpa_debug_timestamp;
 
+static const char *debug_strings[] = {
+	"msgdump", "debug", "info", "warning", "error", NULL
+};
+
 
 /**
  * wpas_dbus_new_decompose_object_path - Decompose an interface object path into parts
@@ -706,9 +710,15 @@ DBusMessage * wpas_dbus_handler_get_interface(DBusMessage *message,
 DBusMessage * wpas_dbus_getter_debug_level(DBusMessage *message,
 					   struct wpa_global *global)
 {
-	return wpas_dbus_simple_property_getter(message, DBUS_TYPE_BYTE,
-						&wpa_debug_level);
-
+	const char *str;
+	int idx = wpa_debug_level;
+	if (idx < 0)
+		idx = 0;
+	if (idx > 4)
+		idx = 4;
+	str = debug_strings[idx];
+	return wpas_dbus_simple_property_getter(message, DBUS_TYPE_STRING,
+						&str);
 }
 
 
@@ -756,15 +766,23 @@ DBusMessage * wpas_dbus_getter_debug_show_keys(DBusMessage *message,
 DBusMessage * wpas_dbus_setter_debug_level(DBusMessage *message,
 					   struct wpa_global *global)
 {
-	DBusMessage *reply = NULL;
-	dbus_uint16_t val;
+	DBusMessage *reply;
+	const char *str = NULL;
+	int i, val = -1;
 
-	reply = wpas_dbus_simple_property_setter(message, DBUS_TYPE_INT16,
-						 &val);
+	reply = wpas_dbus_simple_property_setter(message, DBUS_TYPE_STRING,
+						 &str);
 	if (reply)
 		return reply;
 
-	if (wpa_supplicant_set_debug_params(global, val, wpa_debug_timestamp,
+	for (i = 0; debug_strings[i]; i++)
+		if (os_strcmp(debug_strings[i], str) == 0) {
+			val = i;
+			break;
+		}
+
+	if (val < 0 ||
+	    wpa_supplicant_set_debug_params(global, val, wpa_debug_timestamp,
 					    wpa_debug_show_keys)) {
 		dbus_message_unref(reply);
 		return wpas_dbus_error_invalid_args(
@@ -786,7 +804,7 @@ DBusMessage * wpas_dbus_setter_debug_level(DBusMessage *message,
 DBusMessage * wpas_dbus_setter_debug_timestamp(DBusMessage *message,
 					       struct wpa_global *global)
 {
-	DBusMessage *reply = NULL;
+	DBusMessage *reply;
 	dbus_bool_t val;
 
 	reply = wpas_dbus_simple_property_setter(message, DBUS_TYPE_BOOLEAN,
@@ -812,7 +830,7 @@ DBusMessage * wpas_dbus_setter_debug_timestamp(DBusMessage *message,
 DBusMessage * wpas_dbus_setter_debug_show_keys(DBusMessage *message,
 					       struct wpa_global *global)
 {
-	DBusMessage *reply = NULL;
+	DBusMessage *reply;
 	dbus_bool_t val;
 
 	reply = wpas_dbus_simple_property_setter(message, DBUS_TYPE_BOOLEAN,