diff --git a/src/basic/pidfd-util.c b/src/basic/pidfd-util.c
index 965f0b86da..328ed70d52 100644
--- a/src/basic/pidfd-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/pidfd-util.c
@@ -239,7 +239,7 @@ int pidfd_get_inode_id_impl(int fd, uint64_t *ret) {
                 union {
                         struct file_handle file_handle;
                         uint8_t space[offsetof(struct file_handle, f_handle) + sizeof(uint64_t)];
-                } fh = {
+                } _alignas_(uint64_t) fh = {
                         .file_handle.handle_bytes = sizeof(uint64_t),
                         .file_handle.handle_type = FILEID_KERNFS,
                 };