diff --git a/xen/arch/arm/include/asm/atomic.h b/xen/arch/arm/include/asm/atomic.h
index 1f60c28b1b..64314d59b3 100644
--- a/xen/arch/arm/include/asm/atomic.h
+++ b/xen/arch/arm/include/asm/atomic.h
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ static always_inline void read_atomic_size(const volatile void *p,
                                            void *res,
                                            unsigned int size)
 {
+    ASSERT(IS_ALIGNED((vaddr_t)p, size));
     switch ( size )
     {
     case 1:
@@ -102,6 +103,7 @@ static always_inline void write_atomic_size(volatile void *p,
                                             void *val,
                                             unsigned int size)
 {
+    ASSERT(IS_ALIGNED((vaddr_t)p, size));
     switch ( size )
     {
     case 1: