diff --git a/sbin/nvmecontrol/firmware.c b/sbin/nvmecontrol/firmware.c
index 281fabe5a033..975ecc264b09 100644
--- a/sbin/nvmecontrol/firmware.c
+++ b/sbin/nvmecontrol/firmware.c
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ update_firmware(int fd, uint8_t *payload, int32_t payload_size)
 	off = 0;
 	resid = payload_size;
 
-	if ((chunk = malloc(NVME_MAX_XFER_SIZE)) == NULL)
+	if ((chunk = aligned_alloc(NVME_MAX_XFER_SIZE, PAGE_SIZE)) == NULL)
 		errx(1, "unable to malloc %d bytes", NVME_MAX_XFER_SIZE);
 
 	while (resid > 0) {