diff --git a/fs/nfsd/nfs4xdr.c b/fs/nfsd/nfs4xdr.c
index 5b4fef55676a..2fc7abebeb9b 100644
--- a/fs/nfsd/nfs4xdr.c
+++ b/fs/nfsd/nfs4xdr.c
@@ -3278,7 +3278,7 @@ nfsd4_encode_readlink(struct nfsd4_compoundres *resp, __be32 nfserr, struct nfsd
 
 	wire_count = htonl(maxcount);
 	write_bytes_to_xdr_buf(xdr->buf, length_offset, &wire_count, 4);
-	xdr_truncate_encode(xdr, length_offset + 4 + maxcount);
+	xdr_truncate_encode(xdr, length_offset + 4 + ALIGN(maxcount, 4));
 	if (maxcount & 3)
 		write_bytes_to_xdr_buf(xdr->buf, length_offset + 4 + maxcount,
 						&zero, 4 - (maxcount&3));