diff --git a/src/artifacts/CpioArtifactReader.ts b/src/artifacts/CpioArtifactReader.ts
index d4e58f531e..3123628c1d 100644
--- a/src/artifacts/CpioArtifactReader.ts
+++ b/src/artifacts/CpioArtifactReader.ts
@@ -73,6 +73,15 @@ class ByteSource {
     return bytes;
   }
 
+  /** Consume the NUL alignment bytes required by newc and crc records. */
+  async padding(length: number, label: string): Promise<void> {
+    if ((await this.read(length, label)).some((byte) => byte !== 0))
+      throw new ArtifactReaderFailure(
+        "format",
+        `cpio ${label} contains nonzero bytes`,
+      );
+  }
+
   /** Yield `length` bytes in chunks without buffering them together. */
   async *take(length: number, label: string): AsyncGenerator<Buffer> {
     let remaining = length;
@@ -325,11 +334,9 @@ export class CpioArtifactReader implements ArtifactReader {
           "cpio member name size is invalid",
         );
       const nameBytes = await source.read(header.nameSize, "member name");
-      await drain(
-        source.take(
-          padding(header.format, 110 + header.nameSize),
-          "name padding",
-        ),
+      await source.padding(
+        padding(header.format, 110 + header.nameSize),
+        "name padding",
       );
       // cpio names require exactly one terminal NUL: a missing terminator or
       // an embedded NUL with trailing bytes is malformed. Decode without
@@ -637,8 +644,9 @@ export class CpioArtifactReader implements ArtifactReader {
         for (const byte of chunk) sum.value = (sum.value + byte) >>> 0;
       yield chunk;
     }
-    await drain(
-      source.take(padding(header.format, header.fileSize), "data padding"),
+    await source.padding(
+      padding(header.format, header.fileSize),
+      "data padding",
     );
     this.#cancelled();
   }
diff --git a/src/artifacts/InstallerPackageReaders.test.ts b/src/artifacts/InstallerPackageReaders.test.ts
index 8a689aec14..c2e3fd12cb 100644
--- a/src/artifacts/InstallerPackageReaders.test.ts
+++ b/src/artifacts/InstallerPackageReaders.test.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";
 import { join } from "node:path";
 import { Readable } from "node:stream";
 import { buffer } from "node:stream/consumers";
+import { gunzipSync, gzipSync } from "node:zlib";
 
 import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
 
@@ -411,3 +412,33 @@ describe("cpio hard links and CRC archives", () => {
     await reader.close();
   });
 });
+
+it.each(["newc", "crc"] as const)(
+  "rejects nonzero %s alignment under either integrity policy",
+  async (format) => {
+    for (const policy of ["fail", "record-and-continue"] as const) {
+      for (const [offset, label] of [
+        [113, "name padding"],
+        [117, "data padding"],
+      ] as const) {
+        // 110-byte header, a three-byte NUL-terminated name, then one data byte.
+        const decoded = gunzipSync(
+          gzipCpio([{ name: "ab", mode: MODE.file, data: "x" }], format),
+        );
+        decoded[offset] = 1;
+        const reader = new CpioArtifactReader(
+          () => Promise.resolve(Readable.from([gzipSync(decoded)])),
+          policy,
+        );
+        try {
+          await expect(collect(reader)).rejects.toMatchObject({
+            reason: "format",
+            message: `cpio ${label} contains nonzero bytes`,
+          });
+        } finally {
+          await reader.close();
+        }
+      }
+    }
+  },
+);