diff --git a/read-cache.c b/read-cache.c
index b09128b188..3202402927 100644
--- a/read-cache.c
+++ b/read-cache.c
@@ -1873,9 +1873,20 @@ static int read_index_extension(struct index_state *istate,
 	return 0;
 }
 
+/*
+ * Parses the contents of the cache entry contained within the 'ondisk' buffer
+ * into a new incore 'cache_entry'.
+ *
+ * Note that 'char *ondisk' may not be aligned to a 4-byte address interval in
+ * index v4, so we cannot cast it to 'struct ondisk_cache_entry *' and access
+ * its members. Instead, we use the byte offsets of members within the struct to
+ * identify where 'get_be16()', 'get_be32()', and 'oidread()' (which can all
+ * read from an unaligned memory buffer) should read from the 'ondisk' buffer
+ * into the corresponding incore 'cache_entry' members.
+ */
 static struct cache_entry *create_from_disk(struct mem_pool *ce_mem_pool,
 					    unsigned int version,
-					    struct ondisk_cache_entry *ondisk,
+					    const char *ondisk,
 					    unsigned long *ent_size,
 					    const struct cache_entry *previous_ce)
 {
@@ -1883,7 +1894,7 @@ static struct cache_entry *create_from_disk(struct mem_pool *ce_mem_pool,
 	size_t len;
 	const char *name;
 	const unsigned hashsz = the_hash_algo->rawsz;
-	const uint16_t *flagsp = (const uint16_t *)(ondisk->data + hashsz);
+	const char *flagsp = ondisk + offsetof(struct ondisk_cache_entry, data) + hashsz;
 	unsigned int flags;
 	size_t copy_len = 0;
 	/*
@@ -1901,15 +1912,15 @@ static struct cache_entry *create_from_disk(struct mem_pool *ce_mem_pool,
 
 	if (flags & CE_EXTENDED) {
 		int extended_flags;
-		extended_flags = get_be16(flagsp + 1) << 16;
+		extended_flags = get_be16(flagsp + sizeof(uint16_t)) << 16;
 		/* We do not yet understand any bit out of CE_EXTENDED_FLAGS */
 		if (extended_flags & ~CE_EXTENDED_FLAGS)
 			die(_("unknown index entry format 0x%08x"), extended_flags);
 		flags |= extended_flags;
-		name = (const char *)(flagsp + 2);
+		name = (const char *)(flagsp + 2 * sizeof(uint16_t));
 	}
 	else
-		name = (const char *)(flagsp + 1);
+		name = (const char *)(flagsp + sizeof(uint16_t));
 
 	if (expand_name_field) {
 		const unsigned char *cp = (const unsigned char *)name;
@@ -1935,20 +1946,32 @@ static struct cache_entry *create_from_disk(struct mem_pool *ce_mem_pool,
 
 	ce = mem_pool__ce_alloc(ce_mem_pool, len);
 
-	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_ctime.sec = get_be32(&ondisk->ctime.sec);
-	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_mtime.sec = get_be32(&ondisk->mtime.sec);
-	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_ctime.nsec = get_be32(&ondisk->ctime.nsec);
-	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_mtime.nsec = get_be32(&ondisk->mtime.nsec);
-	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_dev   = get_be32(&ondisk->dev);
-	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_ino   = get_be32(&ondisk->ino);
-	ce->ce_mode  = get_be32(&ondisk->mode);
-	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_uid   = get_be32(&ondisk->uid);
-	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_gid   = get_be32(&ondisk->gid);
-	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_size  = get_be32(&ondisk->size);
+	/*
+	 * NEEDSWORK: using 'offsetof()' is cumbersome and should be replaced
+	 * with something more akin to 'load_bitmap_entries_v1()'s use of
+	 * 'read_be16'/'read_be32'. For consistency with the corresponding
+	 * ondisk entry write function ('copy_cache_entry_to_ondisk()'), this
+	 * should be done at the same time as removing references to
+	 * 'ondisk_cache_entry' there.
+	 */
+	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_ctime.sec = get_be32(ondisk + offsetof(struct ondisk_cache_entry, ctime)
+							+ offsetof(struct cache_time, sec));
+	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_mtime.sec = get_be32(ondisk + offsetof(struct ondisk_cache_entry, mtime)
+							+ offsetof(struct cache_time, sec));
+	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_ctime.nsec = get_be32(ondisk + offsetof(struct ondisk_cache_entry, ctime)
+							 + offsetof(struct cache_time, nsec));
+	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_mtime.nsec = get_be32(ondisk + offsetof(struct ondisk_cache_entry, mtime)
+							 + offsetof(struct cache_time, nsec));
+	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_dev   = get_be32(ondisk + offsetof(struct ondisk_cache_entry, dev));
+	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_ino   = get_be32(ondisk + offsetof(struct ondisk_cache_entry, ino));
+	ce->ce_mode  = get_be32(ondisk + offsetof(struct ondisk_cache_entry, mode));
+	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_uid   = get_be32(ondisk + offsetof(struct ondisk_cache_entry, uid));
+	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_gid   = get_be32(ondisk + offsetof(struct ondisk_cache_entry, gid));
+	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_size  = get_be32(ondisk + offsetof(struct ondisk_cache_entry, size));
 	ce->ce_flags = flags & ~CE_NAMEMASK;
 	ce->ce_namelen = len;
 	ce->index = 0;
-	oidread(&ce->oid, ondisk->data);
+	oidread(&ce->oid, (const unsigned char *)ondisk + offsetof(struct ondisk_cache_entry, data));
 
 	if (expand_name_field) {
 		if (copy_len)
@@ -2117,12 +2140,12 @@ static unsigned long load_cache_entry_block(struct index_state *istate,
 	unsigned long src_offset = start_offset;
 
 	for (i = offset; i < offset + nr; i++) {
-		struct ondisk_cache_entry *disk_ce;
 		struct cache_entry *ce;
 		unsigned long consumed;
 
-		disk_ce = (struct ondisk_cache_entry *)(mmap + src_offset);
-		ce = create_from_disk(ce_mem_pool, istate->version, disk_ce, &consumed, previous_ce);
+		ce = create_from_disk(ce_mem_pool, istate->version,
+				      mmap + src_offset,
+				      &consumed, previous_ce);
 		set_index_entry(istate, i, ce);
 
 		src_offset += consumed;