diff --git a/libraries/base/common/src/vhdl/common_pkg.vhd b/libraries/base/common/src/vhdl/common_pkg.vhd
index 58df9c2e47d78ab5caae2fdab9d70582da1335fa..3820f512559300a6e55401b844f04174ec04f88c 100644
--- a/libraries/base/common/src/vhdl/common_pkg.vhd
+++ b/libraries/base/common/src/vhdl/common_pkg.vhd
@@ -829,6 +829,9 @@ package body common_pkg is
     variable v_data       : std_logic_vector(data'length - 1 downto 0) := data;
     variable v_a          : t_slv_8_arr(c_nof_octets - 1 downto 0);
   begin
+    assert data'length = c_nof_octets * c_octet_w
+      report "common_pkg: unpack_data must be integer number of octest"
+      severity FAILURE;
     for I in v_a'range loop
       v_a(I) := v_data((I + 1) * c_octet_w - 1 downto I * c_octet_w);
     end loop;