diff --git a/libnetutils/dhcpclient.c b/libnetutils/dhcpclient.c
index b38e258c8..34500e78c 100644
--- a/libnetutils/dhcpclient.c
+++ b/libnetutils/dhcpclient.c
@@ -197,7 +197,11 @@ int decode_dhcp_msg(dhcp_msg *msg, int len, dhcp_info *info)
         }
         switch(opt) {
         case OPT_SUBNET_MASK:
-            if (optlen >= 4) info->prefixLength = ipv4NetmaskToPrefixLength(*((uint32_t*)x));
+            if (optlen >= 4) {
+                in_addr_t mask;
+                memcpy(&mask, x, 4);
+                info->prefixLength = ipv4NetmaskToPrefixLength(mask);
+            }
             break;
         case OPT_GATEWAY:
             if (optlen >= 4) memcpy(&info->gateway, x, 4);
diff --git a/libnetutils/ifc_utils.c b/libnetutils/ifc_utils.c
index 186b98c3a..f19cb41dd 100644
--- a/libnetutils/ifc_utils.c
+++ b/libnetutils/ifc_utils.c
@@ -75,9 +75,8 @@ in_addr_t prefixLengthToIpv4Netmask(int prefix_length)
 
 int ipv4NetmaskToPrefixLength(in_addr_t mask)
 {
-    mask = ntohl(mask);
     int prefixLength = 0;
-    uint32_t m = (uint32_t)mask;
+    uint32_t m = (uint32_t)ntohl(mask);
     while (m & 0x80000000) {
         prefixLength++;
         m = m << 1;
@@ -486,7 +485,7 @@ int ifc_get_info(const char *name, in_addr_t *addr, int *prefixLength, unsigned
         if(ioctl(ifc_ctl_sock, SIOCGIFNETMASK, &ifr) < 0) {
             *prefixLength = 0;
         } else {
-            *prefixLength = ipv4NetmaskToPrefixLength((int)
+            *prefixLength = ipv4NetmaskToPrefixLength(
                     ((struct sockaddr_in*) &ifr.ifr_addr)->sin_addr.s_addr);
         }
     }