diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index bfb5f9d3f4..86d66b9553 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -102,6 +102,7 @@ EXTRA_DIST = \
 	shared/nm-utils/nm-vpn-plugin-macros.h \
 	shared/nm-utils/nm-vpn-plugin-utils.c \
 	shared/nm-utils/nm-vpn-plugin-utils.h \
+	shared/nm-utils/unaligned.h \
 	shared/nm-version-macros.h.in \
 	\
 	$(NULL)
diff --git a/shared/nm-utils/unaligned.h b/shared/nm-utils/unaligned.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7c847a3ccb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/shared/nm-utils/unaligned.h
@@ -0,0 +1,129 @@
+#pragma once
+
+/***
+  This file is part of systemd.
+
+  Copyright 2014 Tom Gundersen
+
+  systemd is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+  under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
+  the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the License, or
+  (at your option) any later version.
+
+  systemd is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+  WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
+  Lesser General Public License for more details.
+
+  You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
+  along with systemd; If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+***/
+
+#include <endian.h>
+#include <stdint.h>
+
+/* BE */
+
+static inline uint16_t unaligned_read_be16(const void *_u) {
+        const uint8_t *u = _u;
+
+        return (((uint16_t) u[0]) << 8) |
+                ((uint16_t) u[1]);
+}
+
+static inline uint32_t unaligned_read_be32(const void *_u) {
+        const uint8_t *u = _u;
+
+        return (((uint32_t) unaligned_read_be16(u)) << 16) |
+                ((uint32_t) unaligned_read_be16(u + 2));
+}
+
+static inline uint64_t unaligned_read_be64(const void *_u) {
+        const uint8_t *u = _u;
+
+        return (((uint64_t) unaligned_read_be32(u)) << 32) |
+                ((uint64_t) unaligned_read_be32(u + 4));
+}
+
+static inline void unaligned_write_be16(void *_u, uint16_t a) {
+        uint8_t *u = _u;
+
+        u[0] = (uint8_t) (a >> 8);
+        u[1] = (uint8_t) a;
+}
+
+static inline void unaligned_write_be32(void *_u, uint32_t a) {
+        uint8_t *u = _u;
+
+        unaligned_write_be16(u, (uint16_t) (a >> 16));
+        unaligned_write_be16(u + 2, (uint16_t) a);
+}
+
+static inline void unaligned_write_be64(void *_u, uint64_t a) {
+        uint8_t *u = _u;
+
+        unaligned_write_be32(u, (uint32_t) (a >> 32));
+        unaligned_write_be32(u + 4, (uint32_t) a);
+}
+
+/* LE */
+
+static inline uint16_t unaligned_read_le16(const void *_u) {
+        const uint8_t *u = _u;
+
+        return (((uint16_t) u[1]) << 8) |
+                ((uint16_t) u[0]);
+}
+
+static inline uint32_t unaligned_read_le32(const void *_u) {
+        const uint8_t *u = _u;
+
+        return (((uint32_t) unaligned_read_le16(u + 2)) << 16) |
+                ((uint32_t) unaligned_read_le16(u));
+}
+
+static inline uint64_t unaligned_read_le64(const void *_u) {
+        const uint8_t *u = _u;
+
+        return (((uint64_t) unaligned_read_le32(u + 4)) << 32) |
+                ((uint64_t) unaligned_read_le32(u));
+}
+
+static inline void unaligned_write_le16(void *_u, uint16_t a) {
+        uint8_t *u = _u;
+
+        u[0] = (uint8_t) a;
+        u[1] = (uint8_t) (a >> 8);
+}
+
+static inline void unaligned_write_le32(void *_u, uint32_t a) {
+        uint8_t *u = _u;
+
+        unaligned_write_le16(u, (uint16_t) a);
+        unaligned_write_le16(u + 2, (uint16_t) (a >> 16));
+}
+
+static inline void unaligned_write_le64(void *_u, uint64_t a) {
+        uint8_t *u = _u;
+
+        unaligned_write_le32(u, (uint32_t) a);
+        unaligned_write_le32(u + 4, (uint32_t) (a >> 32));
+}
+
+#if __BYTE_ORDER == __BIG_ENDIAN
+#define unaligned_read_ne16 unaligned_read_be16
+#define unaligned_read_ne32 unaligned_read_be32
+#define unaligned_read_ne64 unaligned_read_be64
+
+#define unaligned_write_ne16 unaligned_write_be16
+#define unaligned_write_ne32 unaligned_write_be32
+#define unaligned_write_ne64 unaligned_write_be64
+#else
+#define unaligned_read_ne16 unaligned_read_le16
+#define unaligned_read_ne32 unaligned_read_le32
+#define unaligned_read_ne64 unaligned_read_le64
+
+#define unaligned_write_ne16 unaligned_write_le16
+#define unaligned_write_ne32 unaligned_write_le32
+#define unaligned_write_ne64 unaligned_write_le64
+#endif
diff --git a/src/platform/nm-linux-platform.c b/src/platform/nm-linux-platform.c
index 89a8db22de..700f1e5d7e 100644
--- a/src/platform/nm-linux-platform.c
+++ b/src/platform/nm-linux-platform.c
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@
 #include "nm-platform-utils.h"
 #include "wifi/wifi-utils.h"
 #include "wifi/wifi-utils-wext.h"
+#include "nm-utils/unaligned.h"
 
 #define offset_plus_sizeof(t,m) (offsetof (t,m) + sizeof (((t *) NULL)->m))
 
@@ -1472,12 +1473,18 @@ _new_from_nl_link (NMPlatform *platform, const NMPCache *cache, struct nlmsghdr
 	}
 
 	if (tb[IFLA_STATS64]) {
-		struct rtnl_link_stats64 *stats = nla_data (tb[IFLA_STATS64]);
+		/* tb[IFLA_STATS64] is only guaranteed to be 32bit-aligned,
+		 * so in general we can't access the rtnl_link_stats64 struct
+		 * members directly on 64bit architectures. */
+		char *stats = nla_data (tb[IFLA_STATS64]);
 
-		obj->link.rx_packets = stats->rx_packets;
-		obj->link.rx_bytes = stats->rx_bytes;
-		obj->link.tx_packets = stats->tx_packets;
-		obj->link.tx_bytes = stats->tx_bytes;
+#define READ_STAT64(member) \
+	unaligned_read_ne64 (stats + offsetof (struct rtnl_link_stats64, member))
+
+		obj->link.rx_packets = READ_STAT64 (rx_packets);
+		obj->link.rx_bytes   = READ_STAT64 (rx_bytes);
+		obj->link.tx_packets = READ_STAT64 (tx_packets);
+		obj->link.tx_bytes   = READ_STAT64 (tx_bytes);
 	}
 
 	obj->link.n_ifi_flags = ifi->ifi_flags;