diff --git a/contrib/test_decoding/expected/ddl.out b/contrib/test_decoding/expected/ddl.out
index f0498aa302..cb44941ede 100644
--- a/contrib/test_decoding/expected/ddl.out
+++ b/contrib/test_decoding/expected/ddl.out
@@ -227,23 +227,28 @@ CREATE TABLE tr_etoomuch (id serial primary key, data int);
 INSERT INTO tr_etoomuch(data) SELECT g.i FROM generate_series(1, 10234) g(i);
 DELETE FROM tr_etoomuch WHERE id < 5000;
 UPDATE tr_etoomuch SET data = - data WHERE id > 5000;
+CREATE TABLE tr_oddlength (id text primary key, data text);
+INSERT INTO tr_oddlength VALUES('ab', 'foo');
 COMMIT;
 /* display results, but hide most of the output */
 SELECT count(*), min(data), max(data)
 FROM pg_logical_slot_get_changes('regression_slot', NULL, NULL, 'include-xids', '0', 'skip-empty-xacts', '1')
 GROUP BY substring(data, 1, 24)
 ORDER BY 1,2;
- count |                       min                       |                                  max                                   
--------+-------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------
-     1 | BEGIN                                           | BEGIN
-     1 | COMMIT                                          | COMMIT
- 20467 | table public.tr_etoomuch: DELETE: id[integer]:1 | table public.tr_etoomuch: UPDATE: id[integer]:9999 data[integer]:-9999
-(3 rows)
+ count |                                min                                |                                  max                                   
+-------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+     1 | BEGIN                                                             | BEGIN
+     1 | COMMIT                                                            | COMMIT
+     1 | table public.tr_oddlength: INSERT: id[text]:'ab' data[text]:'foo' | table public.tr_oddlength: INSERT: id[text]:'ab' data[text]:'foo'
+ 20467 | table public.tr_etoomuch: DELETE: id[integer]:1                   | table public.tr_etoomuch: UPDATE: id[integer]:9999 data[integer]:-9999
+(4 rows)
 
 -- check updates of primary keys work correctly
 BEGIN;
 CREATE TABLE spoolme AS SELECT g.i FROM generate_series(1, 5000) g(i);
 UPDATE tr_etoomuch SET id = -id WHERE id = 5000;
+UPDATE tr_oddlength SET id = 'x', data = 'quux';
+UPDATE tr_oddlength SET id = 'yy', data = 'a';
 DELETE FROM spoolme;
 DROP TABLE spoolme;
 COMMIT;
@@ -253,7 +258,9 @@ WHERE data ~ 'UPDATE';
                                                     data                                                     
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  table public.tr_etoomuch: UPDATE: old-key: id[integer]:5000 new-tuple: id[integer]:-5000 data[integer]:5000
-(1 row)
+ table public.tr_oddlength: UPDATE: old-key: id[text]:'ab' new-tuple: id[text]:'x' data[text]:'quux'
+ table public.tr_oddlength: UPDATE: old-key: id[text]:'x' new-tuple: id[text]:'yy' data[text]:'a'
+(3 rows)
 
 -- check that a large, spooled, upsert works
 INSERT INTO tr_etoomuch (id, data)
diff --git a/contrib/test_decoding/sql/ddl.sql b/contrib/test_decoding/sql/ddl.sql
index ad928ad572..228fe33685 100644
--- a/contrib/test_decoding/sql/ddl.sql
+++ b/contrib/test_decoding/sql/ddl.sql
@@ -115,6 +115,8 @@ CREATE TABLE tr_etoomuch (id serial primary key, data int);
 INSERT INTO tr_etoomuch(data) SELECT g.i FROM generate_series(1, 10234) g(i);
 DELETE FROM tr_etoomuch WHERE id < 5000;
 UPDATE tr_etoomuch SET data = - data WHERE id > 5000;
+CREATE TABLE tr_oddlength (id text primary key, data text);
+INSERT INTO tr_oddlength VALUES('ab', 'foo');
 COMMIT;
 
 /* display results, but hide most of the output */
@@ -127,6 +129,8 @@ ORDER BY 1,2;
 BEGIN;
 CREATE TABLE spoolme AS SELECT g.i FROM generate_series(1, 5000) g(i);
 UPDATE tr_etoomuch SET id = -id WHERE id = 5000;
+UPDATE tr_oddlength SET id = 'x', data = 'quux';
+UPDATE tr_oddlength SET id = 'yy', data = 'a';
 DELETE FROM spoolme;
 DROP TABLE spoolme;
 COMMIT;
diff --git a/src/backend/replication/logical/reorderbuffer.c b/src/backend/replication/logical/reorderbuffer.c
index d3830095c7..1b6aa7b60f 100644
--- a/src/backend/replication/logical/reorderbuffer.c
+++ b/src/backend/replication/logical/reorderbuffer.c
@@ -2347,6 +2347,10 @@ ReorderBufferRestoreChanges(ReorderBuffer *rb, ReorderBufferTXN *txn,
 /*
  * Convert change from its on-disk format to in-memory format and queue it onto
  * the TXN's ->changes list.
+ *
+ * Note: although "data" is declared char*, at entry it points to a
+ * maxalign'd buffer, making it safe in most of this function to assume
+ * that the pointed-to data is suitably aligned for direct access.
  */
 static void
 ReorderBufferRestoreChange(ReorderBuffer *rb, ReorderBufferTXN *txn,
@@ -2374,7 +2378,7 @@ ReorderBufferRestoreChange(ReorderBuffer *rb, ReorderBufferTXN *txn,
 		case REORDER_BUFFER_CHANGE_INTERNAL_SPEC_INSERT:
 			if (change->data.tp.oldtuple)
 			{
-				Size		tuplelen = ((HeapTuple) data)->t_len;
+				uint32		tuplelen = ((HeapTuple) data)->t_len;
 
 				change->data.tp.oldtuple =
 					ReorderBufferGetTupleBuf(rb, tuplelen - SizeofHeapTupleHeader);
@@ -2395,7 +2399,11 @@ ReorderBufferRestoreChange(ReorderBuffer *rb, ReorderBufferTXN *txn,
 
 			if (change->data.tp.newtuple)
 			{
-				Size		tuplelen = ((HeapTuple) data)->t_len;
+				/* here, data might not be suitably aligned! */
+				uint32		tuplelen;
+
+				memcpy(&tuplelen, data + offsetof(HeapTupleData, t_len),
+					   sizeof(uint32));
 
 				change->data.tp.newtuple =
 					ReorderBufferGetTupleBuf(rb, tuplelen - SizeofHeapTupleHeader);