diff --git a/src/fccfg.c b/src/fccfg.c
index 4beb7d2..09c5991 100644
--- a/src/fccfg.c
+++ b/src/fccfg.c
@@ -1689,10 +1689,19 @@ static FcChar8 *
 FcConfigFileExists (const FcChar8 *dir, const FcChar8 *file)
 {
     FcChar8    *path;
+    int         size;
 
     if (!dir)
 	dir = (FcChar8 *) "";
-    path = malloc (strlen ((char *) dir) + 1 + strlen ((char *) file) + 1);
+
+    size = strlen ((char *) dir) + 1 + strlen ((char *) file) + 1;
+    /*
+     * workaround valgrind warning because glibc takes advantage of how it knows memory is
+     * allocated to implement strlen by reading in groups of 4
+     */
+    size = (size + 3) & ~3;
+
+    path = malloc (size);
     if (!path)
 	return 0;
 
@@ -1711,7 +1720,7 @@ FcConfigFileExists (const FcChar8 *dir, const FcChar8 *file)
 #endif
     strcat ((char *) path, (char *) file);
 
-    FcMemAlloc (FC_MEM_STRING, strlen ((char *) path) + 1);
+    FcMemAlloc (FC_MEM_STRING, size);
     if (access ((char *) path, R_OK) == 0)
 	return path;
 
diff --git a/src/fcpat.c b/src/fcpat.c
index be01a4f..8f63659 100644
--- a/src/fcpat.c
+++ b/src/fcpat.c
@@ -1057,9 +1057,13 @@ FcStrStaticName (const FcChar8 *name)
 	if (b->hash == hash && !strcmp ((char *)name, (char *) (b + 1)))
 	    return (FcChar8 *) (b + 1);
     size = sizeof (struct objectBucket) + strlen ((char *)name) + 1;
-    b = malloc (size + sizeof (int));
-    /* workaround glibc bug which reads strlen in groups of 4 */
-    FcMemAlloc (FC_MEM_STATICSTR, size + sizeof (int));
+    /*
+     * workaround valgrind warning because glibc takes advantage of how it knows memory is
+     * allocated to implement strlen by reading in groups of 4
+     */
+    size = (size + 3) & ~3;
+    b = malloc (size);
+    FcMemAlloc (FC_MEM_STATICSTR, size);
     if (!b)
         return NULL;
     b->next = 0;