diff --git a/quickassist/lookaside/access_layer/src/qat_direct/include/adf_platform_common.h b/quickassist/lookaside/access_layer/src/qat_direct/include/adf_platform_common.h
index 6956a5e02502..449ba2978a93 100644
--- a/quickassist/lookaside/access_layer/src/qat_direct/include/adf_platform_common.h
+++ b/quickassist/lookaside/access_layer/src/qat_direct/include/adf_platform_common.h
@@ -258,8 +258,21 @@ static inline unsigned int modulo(unsigned int data, unsigned int shift)
 #define ICP_ADF_CSR_WR(csrAddr, csrOffset, val)                                \
     (void)((*((volatile Cpa32U *)(((Cpa8U *)csrAddr) + csrOffset)) = (val)))
 
-/* CSR read macro */
-#define ICP_ADF_CSR_RD(csrAddr, csrOffset)                                     \
-    (*((volatile Cpa32U *)(((Cpa8U *)csrAddr) + csrOffset)))
+/*
+ * Force MMIO loads to remain 32-bit wide. GCC 16 may otherwise narrow a
+ * volatile 32-bit CSR read to a byte access when only one bit is tested,
+ * which breaks QAT mailbox CSRs that require DWORD transactions.
+ */
+static inline unsigned int icp_adf_csr_rd(void *csrAddr, unsigned int csrOffset)
+{
+    const volatile void *addr = ((char *)csrAddr) + csrOffset;
+    unsigned int val;
+
+    __asm__ __volatile__("movl (%1), %0" : "=r"(val) : "r"(addr) : "memory");
+
+    return val;
+}
+
+#define ICP_ADF_CSR_RD(csrAddr, csrOffset) icp_adf_csr_rd(csrAddr, csrOffset)

 #endif /* ADF_PLATFORM_COMMON_H */
-- 
2.54.0