diff --git a/wolfcrypt/src/md5.c b/wolfcrypt/src/md5.c
index 062122442..c52ebdbc1 100644
--- a/wolfcrypt/src/md5.c
+++ b/wolfcrypt/src/md5.c
@@ -115,8 +115,9 @@ int wc_Md5Final(wc_Md5* md5, byte* hash)
 #define XTRANSFORM(S,B)       Transform((S), (B))
 #define XTRANSFORM_LEN(S,B,L) Transform_Len((S), (B), (L))
 
-#if !defined(WC_HASH_DATA_ALIGNMENT) && defined(WOLFSSL_MMCAU_ALIGNMENT)
-    #define WC_HASH_DATA_ALIGNMENT WOLFSSL_MMCAU_ALIGNMENT
+#ifndef WC_HASH_DATA_ALIGNMENT
+    /* these hardware API's require 4 byte (word32) alignment */
+    #define WC_HASH_DATA_ALIGNMENT 4
 #endif
 
 static int Transform(wc_Md5* md5, const byte* data)
diff --git a/wolfcrypt/src/sha.c b/wolfcrypt/src/sha.c
index 40ac18e5f..216a3bf22 100644
--- a/wolfcrypt/src/sha.c
+++ b/wolfcrypt/src/sha.c
@@ -209,8 +209,9 @@
     #define XTRANSFORM(S,B)       Transform((S),(B))
     #define XTRANSFORM_LEN(S,B,L) Transform_Len((S),(B),(L))
 
-    #if !defined(WC_HASH_DATA_ALIGNMENT) && defined(WOLFSSL_MMCAU_ALIGNMENT)
-        #define WC_HASH_DATA_ALIGNMENT WOLFSSL_MMCAU_ALIGNMENT
+    #ifndef WC_HASH_DATA_ALIGNMENT
+        /* these hardware API's require 4 byte (word32) alignment */
+        #define WC_HASH_DATA_ALIGNMENT 4
     #endif
 
     static int InitSha(wc_Sha* sha)
diff --git a/wolfcrypt/src/sha256.c b/wolfcrypt/src/sha256.c
index 14baf4151..5271e2a53 100644
--- a/wolfcrypt/src/sha256.c
+++ b/wolfcrypt/src/sha256.c
@@ -394,8 +394,9 @@ static int InitSha256(wc_Sha256* sha256)
     #define XTRANSFORM(S, D)         Transform_Sha256((S),(D))
     #define XTRANSFORM_LEN(S, D, L)  Transform_Sha256_Len((S),(D),(L))
 
-    #if !defined(WC_HASH_DATA_ALIGNMENT) && defined(WOLFSSL_MMCAU_ALIGNMENT)
-        #define WC_HASH_DATA_ALIGNMENT WOLFSSL_MMCAU_ALIGNMENT
+    #ifndef WC_HASH_DATA_ALIGNMENT
+        /* these hardware API's require 4 byte (word32) alignment */
+        #define WC_HASH_DATA_ALIGNMENT 4
     #endif
 
     int wc_InitSha256_ex(wc_Sha256* sha256, void* heap, int devId)