diff --git a/include/dm/of.h b/include/dm/of.h
index fce7cef0ff..b1c934f610 100644
--- a/include/dm/of.h
+++ b/include/dm/of.h
@@ -63,6 +63,8 @@ struct device_node {
 	struct device_node *sibling;
 };
 
+#define BAD_OF_ROOT	0xdead11e3
+
 #define OF_MAX_PHANDLE_ARGS 16
 
 /**
diff --git a/lib/of_live.c b/lib/of_live.c
index 1b5964d09a..05588d5ed2 100644
--- a/lib/of_live.c
+++ b/lib/of_live.c
@@ -287,9 +287,12 @@ int unflatten_device_tree(const void *blob, struct device_node **mynodes)
 	debug("  size is %lx, allocating...\n", size);
 
 	/* Allocate memory for the expanded device tree */
-	mem = malloc(size + 4);
+	mem = memalign(__alignof__(struct device_node), size + 4);
 	memset(mem, '\0', size);
 
+	/* Set up value for dm_test_livetree_align() */
+	*(u32 *)mem = BAD_OF_ROOT;
+
 	*(__be32 *)(mem + size) = cpu_to_be32(0xdeadbeef);
 
 	debug("  unflattening %p...\n", mem);
diff --git a/test/dm/ofnode.c b/test/dm/ofnode.c
index 473a8cef57..64baaf68db 100644
--- a/test/dm/ofnode.c
+++ b/test/dm/ofnode.c
@@ -1240,3 +1240,29 @@ static int dm_test_ofnode_copy_props_ot(struct unit_test_state *uts)
 	return 0;
 }
 DM_TEST(dm_test_ofnode_copy_props_ot, UT_TESTF_SCAN_FDT | UT_TESTF_OTHER_FDT);
+
+/* check that the livetree is aligned to a structure boundary */
+static int dm_test_livetree_align(struct unit_test_state *uts)
+{
+	const int align = __alignof__(struct unit_test_state);
+	struct device_node *node;
+	u32 *sentinel;
+	ulong start;
+
+	start = (ulong)gd_of_root();
+	ut_asserteq(start, ALIGN(start, align));
+
+	node = gd_of_root();
+	sentinel = (void *)node - sizeof(u32);
+
+	/*
+	 * The sentinel should be overwritten with the root node. If it isn't,
+	 * then the root node is not at the very start of the livetree memory
+	 * area, and free(root) will fail to free the memory used by the
+	 * livetree.
+	 */
+	ut_assert(*sentinel != BAD_OF_ROOT);
+
+	return 0;
+}
+DM_TEST(dm_test_livetree_align, UT_TESTF_LIVE_TREE);