diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 4799eee0938..a2b10fc2d77 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -440,6 +440,21 @@ if(WITH_SYSTEM_CJSON)
   endif()
 endif()
 
+set(CMAKE_REQUIRED_LIBRARIES Eigen3::Eigen) # so that Eigen/Core is found below
+CHECK_CXX_SOURCE_COMPILES("
+#include <Eigen/Core>
+#if (EIGEN_DEFAULT_ALIGN_BYTES==0) || EIGEN_MALLOC_ALREADY_ALIGNED
+#error Eigen will not use handmade_aligned_malloc (which is fine, we just throw an error here to make this compilation fail)
+#endif
+int main() { return 0; }"
+PCL_USES_EIGEN_HANDMADE_ALIGNED_MALLOC)
+if (PCL_USES_EIGEN_HANDMADE_ALIGNED_MALLOC) # CHECK_CXX_SOURCE_COMPILES does not necessarily set this to 0 or 1
+  set(PCL_USES_EIGEN_HANDMADE_ALIGNED_MALLOC 1)
+else()
+  set(PCL_USES_EIGEN_HANDMADE_ALIGNED_MALLOC 0)
+endif()
+unset(CMAKE_REQUIRED_LIBRARIES)
+
 ### ---[ Create the config.h file
 set(pcl_config_h_in "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/pcl_config.h.in")
 set(pcl_config_h "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/include/pcl/pcl_config.h")
diff --git a/common/include/pcl/memory.h b/common/include/pcl/memory.h
index d42e47aa42e..b8bef5a25fe 100644
--- a/common/include/pcl/memory.h
+++ b/common/include/pcl/memory.h
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@
  */
 
 #include <pcl/type_traits.h>  // for has_custom_allocator
+#include <pcl/pcl_config.h> // for PCL_USES_EIGEN_HANDMADE_ALIGNED_MALLOC
 
 #include <Eigen/Core>  // for EIGEN_MAKE_ALIGNED_OPERATOR_NEW
 
@@ -51,6 +52,28 @@
 #include <type_traits>  // for std::enable_if_t, std::false_type, std::true_type
 #include <utility>  // for std::forward
 
+#if !defined(PCL_SILENCE_MALLOC_WARNING)
+#if PCL_USES_EIGEN_HANDMADE_ALIGNED_MALLOC
+// EIGEN_DEFAULT_ALIGN_BYTES and EIGEN_MALLOC_ALREADY_ALIGNED will be set after including Eigen/Core
+// this condition is the same as in the function aligned_malloc in Memory.h in the Eigen code
+#if (defined(EIGEN_DEFAULT_ALIGN_BYTES) && EIGEN_DEFAULT_ALIGN_BYTES==0) || (defined(EIGEN_MALLOC_ALREADY_ALIGNED) && EIGEN_MALLOC_ALREADY_ALIGNED)
+#if defined(_MSC_VER)
+#error "Potential runtime error due to aligned malloc mismatch! You likely have to compile your code with AVX enabled or define EIGEN_MAX_ALIGN_BYTES=32 (to silence this message at your own risk, define PCL_SILENCE_MALLOC_WARNING=1)"
+#else // defined(_MSC_VER)
+#warning "Potential runtime error due to aligned malloc mismatch! You likely have to compile your code with AVX enabled or define EIGEN_MAX_ALIGN_BYTES=32 (to silence this message at your own risk, define PCL_SILENCE_MALLOC_WARNING=1)"
+#endif // defined(_MSC_VER)
+#endif
+#else // PCL_USES_EIGEN_HANDMADE_ALIGNED_MALLOC
+#if (defined(EIGEN_DEFAULT_ALIGN_BYTES) && EIGEN_DEFAULT_ALIGN_BYTES!=0) && (defined(EIGEN_MALLOC_ALREADY_ALIGNED) && !EIGEN_MALLOC_ALREADY_ALIGNED)
+#if defined(_MSC_VER)
+#error "Potential runtime error due to aligned malloc mismatch! PCL was likely compiled without AVX support but you enabled AVX for your code (to silence this message at your own risk, define PCL_SILENCE_MALLOC_WARNING=1)"
+#else // defined(_MSC_VER)
+#warning "Potential runtime error due to aligned malloc mismatch! PCL was likely compiled without AVX support but you enabled AVX for your code (to silence this message at your own risk, define PCL_SILENCE_MALLOC_WARNING=1)"
+#endif // defined(_MSC_VER)
+#endif
+#endif // PCL_USES_EIGEN_HANDMADE_ALIGNED_MALLOC
+#endif // !defined(PCL_SILENCE_MALLOC_WARNING)
+
 /**
  * \brief Macro to signal a class requires a custom allocator
  *
diff --git a/pcl_config.h.in b/pcl_config.h.in
index abed8381b3b..2be34b19b9f 100644
--- a/pcl_config.h.in
+++ b/pcl_config.h.in
@@ -35,6 +35,8 @@
   #endif //PCL_MINOR_VERSION
 #endif 
 
+#define PCL_USES_EIGEN_HANDMADE_ALIGNED_MALLOC ${PCL_USES_EIGEN_HANDMADE_ALIGNED_MALLOC}
+
 #cmakedefine HAVE_OPENNI 1
 
 #cmakedefine HAVE_OPENNI2 1