diff --git a/.changeset/tidy-bananas-double.md b/.changeset/tidy-bananas-double.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a91293acb7b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/tidy-bananas-double.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"hardhat": patch
+---
+
+Updated forking configurations to support number and bigint.
diff --git a/packages/hardhat/src/internal/builtin-plugins/network-manager/type-extensions/config.ts b/packages/hardhat/src/internal/builtin-plugins/network-manager/type-extensions/config.ts
index b6c90cd339d..bee1f906a13 100644
--- a/packages/hardhat/src/internal/builtin-plugins/network-manager/type-extensions/config.ts
+++ b/packages/hardhat/src/internal/builtin-plugins/network-manager/type-extensions/config.ts
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ declare module "../../../../types/config.js" {
   export interface EdrNetworkForkingUserConfig {
     enabled?: boolean;
     url: SensitiveString;
-    blockNumber?: number;
+    blockNumber?: number | bigint;
     httpHeaders?: Record<string, string>;
   }
 
diff --git a/packages/hardhat/src/internal/builtin-plugins/network-manager/type-validation.ts b/packages/hardhat/src/internal/builtin-plugins/network-manager/type-validation.ts
index 2dfc8098445..612826dcd0f 100644
--- a/packages/hardhat/src/internal/builtin-plugins/network-manager/type-validation.ts
+++ b/packages/hardhat/src/internal/builtin-plugins/network-manager/type-validation.ts
@@ -45,6 +45,10 @@ const nonnegativeIntSchema = z.number().int().nonnegative();
 const nonnegativeBigIntSchema = z.bigint().nonnegative();
 
 const blockNumberSchema = nonnegativeIntSchema;
+const forkingBlockNumberSchema = unionType(
+  [z.number().int().nonnegative().safe(), z.bigint().nonnegative()],
+  "Expected a nonnegative safe int or a nonnegative bigint",
+);
 const chainIdSchema = nonnegativeIntSchema;
 
 const chainTypeUserConfigSchema = unionType(
@@ -267,7 +271,7 @@ const edrNetworkAccountsUserConfigSchema = conditionalUnionType(
 const edrNetworkForkingUserConfigSchema = z.object({
   enabled: z.optional(z.boolean()),
   url: sensitiveUrlSchema,
-  blockNumber: z.optional(blockNumberSchema),
+  blockNumber: z.optional(forkingBlockNumberSchema),
   httpHeaders: z.optional(z.record(z.string())),
 });
 
diff --git a/packages/hardhat/src/internal/builtin-plugins/solidity-test/config.ts b/packages/hardhat/src/internal/builtin-plugins/solidity-test/config.ts
index 7753867ea6c..7ebc6d66e6a 100644
--- a/packages/hardhat/src/internal/builtin-plugins/solidity-test/config.ts
+++ b/packages/hardhat/src/internal/builtin-plugins/solidity-test/config.ts
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import {
   conditionalUnionType,
   sensitiveStringSchema,
   sensitiveUrlSchema,
+  unionType,
   validateUserConfigZodType,
 } from "@nomicfoundation/hardhat-zod-utils";
 import { z } from "zod";
@@ -66,7 +67,12 @@ const solidityTestUserConfigType = z.object({
   forking: z
     .object({
       url: z.optional(sensitiveUrlSchema),
-      blockNumber: z.bigint().optional(),
+      blockNumber: z.optional(
+        unionType(
+          [z.number().int().nonnegative().safe(), z.bigint().nonnegative()],
+          "Expected a nonnegative safe int or a nonnegative bigint",
+        ),
+      ),
       rpcEndpoints: z.record(sensitiveStringSchema).optional(),
     })
     .optional(),
@@ -122,6 +128,10 @@ export function resolveSolidityTestForkingConfig(
 
   return {
     ...forkingUserConfig,
+    blockNumber:
+      forkingUserConfig.blockNumber !== undefined
+        ? BigInt(forkingUserConfig.blockNumber)
+        : undefined,
     url:
       forkingUserConfig.url !== undefined
         ? resolveConfigurationVariable(forkingUserConfig.url)
diff --git a/packages/hardhat/src/internal/builtin-plugins/solidity-test/type-extensions.ts b/packages/hardhat/src/internal/builtin-plugins/solidity-test/type-extensions.ts
index a6fa998ac75..a52f99c1163 100644
--- a/packages/hardhat/src/internal/builtin-plugins/solidity-test/type-extensions.ts
+++ b/packages/hardhat/src/internal/builtin-plugins/solidity-test/type-extensions.ts
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ declare module "../../../types/test.js" {
 
   export interface SolidityTestForkingUserConfig {
     url?: SensitiveString;
-    blockNumber?: bigint;
+    blockNumber?: number | bigint;
     rpcEndpoints?: Record<string, SensitiveString>;
   }
 
diff --git a/packages/hardhat/test/internal/builtin-plugins/network-manager/config-resolution.ts b/packages/hardhat/test/internal/builtin-plugins/network-manager/config-resolution.ts
index 3faae921df4..db552fade64 100644
--- a/packages/hardhat/test/internal/builtin-plugins/network-manager/config-resolution.ts
+++ b/packages/hardhat/test/internal/builtin-plugins/network-manager/config-resolution.ts
@@ -517,6 +517,26 @@ describe("config-resolution", () => {
       );
     });
 
+    it("should accept a bigint blockNumber and resolve it correctly", async () => {
+      const userForkingConfig = {
+        enabled: true,
+        url: "http://localhost:8545",
+        blockNumber: 1234n,
+      };
+      const cacheDir = "cache-dir";
+      const forkingConfig = resolveForkingConfig(
+        userForkingConfig,
+        cacheDir,
+        configVarResolver,
+      );
+
+      assert.ok(
+        isEdrNetworkForkingConfig(forkingConfig),
+        "forkingConfig is not an EdrNetworkForkingConfig",
+      );
+      assert.equal(forkingConfig.blockNumber, 1234n);
+    });
+
     it("should use the default values for the optional fields if they are not provided", async () => {
       const userForkingConfig = {
         url: "http://localhost:8545",
diff --git a/packages/hardhat/test/internal/builtin-plugins/network-manager/network-manager.ts b/packages/hardhat/test/internal/builtin-plugins/network-manager/network-manager.ts
index d7caa49072d..88ab0271bb5 100644
--- a/packages/hardhat/test/internal/builtin-plugins/network-manager/network-manager.ts
+++ b/packages/hardhat/test/internal/builtin-plugins/network-manager/network-manager.ts
@@ -2607,6 +2607,17 @@ describe("NetworkManagerImplementation", () => {
           );
 
           assertValidationErrors(validationErrors, []);
+
+          const validationErrorsBigint = await validateNetworkUserConfig(
+            edrConfig({
+              forking: {
+                url: "https://someurl.com",
+                blockNumber: 123n,
+              },
+            }),
+          );
+
+          assertValidationErrors(validationErrorsBigint, []);
         });
 
         it("should not validate an invalid network config", async () => {
@@ -2649,7 +2660,8 @@ describe("NetworkManagerImplementation", () => {
           assertValidationErrors(validationErrors, [
             {
               path: ["networks", "hardhat", "forking", "blockNumber"],
-              message: "Expected number, received string",
+              message:
+                "Expected a nonnegative safe int or a nonnegative bigint",
             },
           ]);
 
diff --git a/packages/hardhat/test/internal/builtin-plugins/solidity-test/helpers.ts b/packages/hardhat/test/internal/builtin-plugins/solidity-test/helpers.ts
index ab94036938e..f2887c4f886 100644
--- a/packages/hardhat/test/internal/builtin-plugins/solidity-test/helpers.ts
+++ b/packages/hardhat/test/internal/builtin-plugins/solidity-test/helpers.ts
@@ -195,6 +195,29 @@ describe("solidityTestConfigToSolidityTestRunnerConfigArgs", () => {
     assert.deepEqual(args.rpcEndpoints, { a: "b" });
   });
 
+  it("accepts a number blockNumber in forking config and converts it to bigint", async () => {
+    const userForkingConfig = {
+      url: "an_url",
+      blockNumber: 123,
+      rpcEndpoints: { a: "b" },
+    };
+
+    const resolvedForkingConfig = resolveSolidityTestForkingConfig(
+      userForkingConfig,
+      configVarResolver,
+    );
+
+    const args = await solidityTestConfigToSolidityTestRunnerConfigArgs({
+      chainType: GENERIC_CHAIN_TYPE,
+      projectRoot: process.cwd(),
+      config: { fuzz: { seed: "0x1234" }, forking: resolvedForkingConfig },
+      verbosity: 1,
+      generateGasReport: false,
+    });
+
+    assert.equal(args.forkBlockNumber, 123n);
+  });
+
   it("sets generateGasReport to true", async () => {
     const args = await solidityTestConfigToSolidityTestRunnerConfigArgs({
       chainType: GENERIC_CHAIN_TYPE,