diff --git a/buffer/src/main/java/io/netty/buffer/PoolArena.java b/buffer/src/main/java/io/netty/buffer/PoolArena.java
index ad1998a0f1..d1ebcacf03 100644
--- a/buffer/src/main/java/io/netty/buffer/PoolArena.java
+++ b/buffer/src/main/java/io/netty/buffer/PoolArena.java
@@ -724,7 +724,10 @@ abstract class PoolArena<T> implements PoolArenaMetric {
         }
 
         private int offsetCacheLine(ByteBuffer memory) {
-            return (int) (PlatformDependent.directBufferAddress(memory) & directMemoryCacheAlignmentMask);
+            // We can only calculate the offset if Unsafe is present as otherwise directBufferAddress(...) will
+            // throw an NPE.
+            return HAS_UNSAFE ?
+                    (int) (PlatformDependent.directBufferAddress(memory) & directMemoryCacheAlignmentMask) : 0;
         }
 
         @Override
diff --git a/buffer/src/main/java/io/netty/buffer/PooledByteBufAllocator.java b/buffer/src/main/java/io/netty/buffer/PooledByteBufAllocator.java
index e9b6c5bd13..6d9990817e 100644
--- a/buffer/src/main/java/io/netty/buffer/PooledByteBufAllocator.java
+++ b/buffer/src/main/java/io/netty/buffer/PooledByteBufAllocator.java
@@ -212,6 +212,9 @@ public class PooledByteBufAllocator extends AbstractByteBufAllocator {
             throw new IllegalArgumentException("directMemoryCacheAlignment: "
                     + directMemoryCacheAlignment + " (expected: >= 0)");
         }
+        if (directMemoryCacheAlignment > 0 && !isDirectMemoryCacheAlignmentSupported()) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("directMemoryCacheAlignment is not supported");
+        }
 
         if ((directMemoryCacheAlignment & -directMemoryCacheAlignment) != directMemoryCacheAlignment) {
             throw new IllegalArgumentException("directMemoryCacheAlignment: "
@@ -379,6 +382,13 @@ public class PooledByteBufAllocator extends AbstractByteBufAllocator {
         return DEFAULT_NORMAL_CACHE_SIZE;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Return {@code true} if direct memory cache aligment is supported, {@code false} otherwise.
+     */
+    public static boolean isDirectMemoryCacheAlignmentSupported() {
+        return PlatformDependent.hasUnsafe();
+    }
+
     @Override
     public boolean isDirectBufferPooled() {
         return directArenas != null;
diff --git a/buffer/src/test/java/io/netty/buffer/PooledByteBufAllocatorTest.java b/buffer/src/test/java/io/netty/buffer/PooledByteBufAllocatorTest.java
index 935f4aaaba..043f81a485 100644
--- a/buffer/src/test/java/io/netty/buffer/PooledByteBufAllocatorTest.java
+++ b/buffer/src/test/java/io/netty/buffer/PooledByteBufAllocatorTest.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ package io.netty.buffer;
 import io.netty.util.concurrent.FastThreadLocal;
 import io.netty.util.concurrent.FastThreadLocalThread;
 import io.netty.util.internal.SystemPropertyUtil;
+import org.junit.Assume;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 import java.util.ArrayList;
@@ -59,6 +60,7 @@ public class PooledByteBufAllocatorTest extends AbstractByteBufAllocatorTest {
 
     @Test
     public void testArenaMetricsCacheAlign() {
+        Assume.assumeTrue(PooledByteBufAllocator.isDirectMemoryCacheAlignmentSupported());
         testArenaMetrics0(new PooledByteBufAllocator(true, 2, 2, 8192, 11, 1000, 1000, 1000, true, 64), 100, 1, 1, 0);
     }