diff --git a/src/basic/cgroup-util.h b/src/basic/cgroup-util.h
index 1d67174b43..42c03e54b7 100644
--- a/src/basic/cgroup-util.h
+++ b/src/basic/cgroup-util.h
@@ -332,4 +332,4 @@ typedef union {
                 .file_handle.handle_type = FILEID_KERNFS,       \
         }
 
-#define CG_FILE_HANDLE_CGROUPID(fh) (*(uint64_t*) (fh).file_handle.f_handle)
+#define CG_FILE_HANDLE_CGROUPID(fh) (*CAST_ALIGN_PTR(uint64_t, (fh).file_handle.f_handle))