diff --git a/src/arch/riscv/trap_util.S b/src/arch/riscv/trap_util.S
index 72a9ae1ced..8aba48b986 100644
--- a/src/arch/riscv/trap_util.S
+++ b/src/arch/riscv/trap_util.S
@@ -109,6 +109,7 @@
   .text
 
     .global  trap_entry
+    .align 2	# four byte alignment, as required by mtvec
 trap_entry:
   csrw mscratch, sp