diff --git a/servers/slapd/back-bdb/dbcache.c b/servers/slapd/back-bdb/dbcache.c
index 7c99c19196..88647373e9 100644
--- a/servers/slapd/back-bdb/dbcache.c
+++ b/servers/slapd/back-bdb/dbcache.c
@@ -29,17 +29,13 @@ bdb_db_hash(
 	u_int32_t length
 )
 {
-	u_int32_t ret = 0;
-	unsigned char *dst = (unsigned char *)&ret;
-	const unsigned char *src = (const unsigned char *)bytes;
+	u_int32_t i, ret = 0;
 
 	if ( length > sizeof(u_int32_t) )
 		length = sizeof(u_int32_t);
 
-	while ( length ) {
-		*dst++ = *src++;
-		length--;
-	}
+	for( i = 0; i < length; i++ )
+		ret = (ret << 8) + ((const unsigned char *)bytes)[i];
 	return ret;
 }