diff --git a/arch/sim/src/sim/posix/sim_hostmemory.c b/arch/sim/src/sim/posix/sim_hostmemory.c
index b7f2a226ac..0b0f308e1a 100644
--- a/arch/sim/src/sim/posix/sim_hostmemory.c
+++ b/arch/sim/src/sim/posix/sim_hostmemory.c
@@ -156,6 +156,11 @@ void *host_memalign(size_t alignment, size_t size)
   void *p;
   int error;
 
+  if (alignment < sizeof(void *))
+    {
+      alignment = sizeof(void *);
+    }
+
   error = posix_memalign(&p, alignment, size);
   if (error != 0)
     {