diff --git a/util/oslib-posix.c b/util/oslib-posix.c
index f1e2801b11..359c52df12 100644
--- a/util/oslib-posix.c
+++ b/util/oslib-posix.c
@@ -201,6 +201,8 @@ void *qemu_try_memalign(size_t alignment, size_t size)
 
     if (alignment < sizeof(void*)) {
         alignment = sizeof(void*);
+    } else {
+        g_assert(is_power_of_2(alignment));
     }
 
 #if defined(CONFIG_POSIX_MEMALIGN)
diff --git a/util/oslib-win32.c b/util/oslib-win32.c
index 8adc651259..e6f83e10ed 100644
--- a/util/oslib-win32.c
+++ b/util/oslib-win32.c
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ void *qemu_try_memalign(size_t alignment, size_t size)
     void *ptr;
 
     g_assert(size != 0);
+    g_assert(is_power_of_2(alignment));
     ptr = _aligned_malloc(alignment, size);
     trace_qemu_memalign(alignment, size, ptr);
     return ptr;