diff --git a/src/otaclient_common/typing.py b/src/otaclient_common/typing.py
index b487a818a..a51831650 100644
--- a/src/otaclient_common/typing.py
+++ b/src/otaclient_common/typing.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Any, Callable, TypeVar, Union
 
-from pydantic import Field
+from pydantic import BeforeValidator, Field
 from typing_extensions import Annotated, Concatenate, ParamSpec
 
 P = ParamSpec("P")
@@ -31,7 +31,11 @@
 
 # pydantic helpers
 
-NetworkPort = Annotated[int, Field(ge=1, le=65535)]
+NetworkPort = Annotated[
+    int,
+    BeforeValidator(lambda x: int(x)),
+    Field(ge=1, le=65535),
+]
 
 
 def gen_strenum_validator(
diff --git a/tests/test_otaclient/test_configs/test_proxy_info.py b/tests/test_otaclient/test_configs/test_proxy_info.py
index 9fa0d1def..57a539be3 100644
--- a/tests/test_otaclient/test_configs/test_proxy_info.py
+++ b/tests/test_otaclient/test_configs/test_proxy_info.py
@@ -95,6 +95,11 @@
             "enable_ota_proxy: true\ngateway: false\n",
             DEFAULT_PROXY_INFO,
         ),
+        # ------ case 7(20240626): NetworkPort allow str value ------ #
+        (
+            'local_ota_proxy_listen_port: "8082"',
+            ProxyInfo(local_ota_proxy_listen_port=8082),
+        ),
     ),
 )
 def test_proxy_info(tmp_path: Path, _input_yaml: str, _expected: ProxyInfo):