diff --git a/lib/isc/cfgmgr.c b/lib/isc/cfgmgr.c
index e1d867a0f1..fd034aece4 100644
--- a/lib/isc/cfgmgr.c
+++ b/lib/isc/cfgmgr.c
@@ -599,10 +599,15 @@ isc__cfgmgr_getval(const char *name, isc_cfgmgr_val_t *value) {
 		goto out;
 	}
 
-	memcpy(value, dbval.mv_data, sizeof(*value));
-	if (value->type == ISC_CFGMGR_STRING) {
-		value->string = ((char *)dbval.mv_data) + sizeof(value->type);
+	const isc_cfgmgr_type_t strtype = ISC_CFGMGR_STRING;
+	if (memcmp(dbval.mv_data, &strtype, sizeof(strtype)) == 0) {
+		value->type = strtype;
+		value->string = (char *)dbval.mv_data + sizeof(strtype);
+	} else {
+		REQUIRE(sizeof(*value) == dbval.mv_size);
+		memmove(value, dbval.mv_data, sizeof(*value));
 	}
+
 	INSIST(value->type != ISC_CFGMGR_UNDEFINED);
 
 out:
@@ -652,12 +657,19 @@ isc__cfgmgr_setval(const char *name, const isc_cfgmgr_val_t *value, bool list) {
 		goto out;
 	}
 
+	/*
+	 * String is a specific case as it needs an allocation, so the size is
+	 * just the size of the type and the string length + 1. For the other
+	 * cases, in order to keep the flow unconditional and simple there is a
+	 * slight memory waste, i.e. storing a uint32_t will take the size of
+	 * isc_cfgmgr_val_t.
+	 */
 	if (value->type == ISC_CFGMGR_STRING) {
-		dbval.mv_size = sizeof(*value) + strlen(value->string) + 1;
+		dbval.mv_size = sizeof(value->type) + strlen(value->string) + 1;
 		dbval.mv_data = isc_mem_allocate(isc__cfgmgr_mctx,
 						 dbval.mv_size);
-		memcpy(dbval.mv_data, value, sizeof(value->type));
-		strcpy(((char *)dbval.mv_data) + sizeof(value->type),
+		memmove(dbval.mv_data, value, sizeof(value->type));
+		strcpy((char *)dbval.mv_data + sizeof(value->type),
 		       value->string);
 	} else {
 		dbval = (MDB_val){ .mv_size = sizeof(*value),
@@ -671,8 +683,8 @@ isc__cfgmgr_setval(const char *name, const isc_cfgmgr_val_t *value, bool list) {
 	if (list == false) {
 		/*
 		 * Can't use MDB_NOOVERWRITE as it would override the
-		 * data if the key/value already exists. Making a
-		 * value copy ahead just in case is likely more
+		 * data if the key/value already exists so it wouldn't work with
+		 * list. Making a value copy ahead just in case is likely more
 		 * expensive than an extra lookup
 		 */
 		if (mdb_cursor_get(isc__cfgmgr_ctx.cursor, &dbkey, NULL,
diff --git a/lib/isc/include/isc/cfgmgr.h b/lib/isc/include/isc/cfgmgr.h
index 424000735d..09fd62d167 100644
--- a/lib/isc/include/isc/cfgmgr.h
+++ b/lib/isc/include/isc/cfgmgr.h
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ typedef enum isc_cfgmgr_type {
 	ISC_CFGMGR_NONE,
 	ISC_CFGMGR_SOCKADDR,
 	ISC_CFGMGR_UINT32
-} isc_cfgmgr_type_t;
+} __attribute__ ((__packed__)) isc_cfgmgr_type_t;
 
 /*
  * Generic value holding the actual value and type value for