diff --git a/include/fluent-bit/flb_compat.h b/include/fluent-bit/flb_compat.h
index 4b481086cfb..d98ec1350d6 100644
--- a/include/fluent-bit/flb_compat.h
+++ b/include/fluent-bit/flb_compat.h
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@
 #ifndef FLB_COMPAT_H
 #define FLB_COMPAT_H
 
+#include <string.h>
+
 /*
  * libmonkey exposes compat macros for <unistd.h>, which some platforms lack,
  * so include the header here.
@@ -204,8 +206,14 @@ static inline uint32_t __attribute__((optimize("-O0"))) FLB_ALIGNED_DWORD_READ(u
 #endif
 
 #else
-static inline uint32_t FLB_ALIGNED_DWORD_READ(unsigned char *source) {
-    return *((uint32_t *) source);
+static inline uint32_t FLB_ALIGNED_DWORD_READ(unsigned char *source)
+{
+    uint32_t result;
+
+    /* MessagePack extension payloads are not guaranteed to be aligned. */
+    memcpy(&result, source, sizeof(result));
+
+    return result;
 }
 #endif