diff --git a/ftparchive/cachedb.cc b/ftparchive/cachedb.cc
index 12eac20..cc0faee 100644
--- a/ftparchive/cachedb.cc
+++ b/ftparchive/cachedb.cc
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ bool CacheDB::ReadyDB(std::string const &DB)
           return _error->Error(_("Unable to open DB file %s: %s"),DB.c_str(), db_strerror(err));
       }
    }
-   
+
    DBFile = DB;
    DBLoaded = true;
    return true;
@@ -198,19 +198,26 @@ bool CacheDB::GetCurStat()
    
    if (DBLoaded)
    {
-      /* First see if there is anything about it
-         in the database */
-      
-      /* Get the flags (and mtime) */
+      // do a first query to just get the size of the data on disk
       InitQueryStats();
-      // Ensure alignment of the returned structure
       Data.data = &CurStat;
-      Data.ulen = sizeof(CurStat);
       Data.flags = DB_DBT_USERMEM;
+      Data.ulen = 0;
+      Get();
+      // if the StatStore size on disk and our struct size disagree,
+      // consider the record invalid (LP: #1274466), see also cachedb.h
+      if(Data.size != sizeof(CurStat))
+      {
+	 CurStat.Flags = 0;
+         return true;
+      }
+
+      // if the data size matches, do the real query
+      Data.ulen = sizeof(CurStat);
       if (Get() == false)
       {
 	 CurStat.Flags = 0;
-      }      
+      }
       CurStat.Flags = ntohl(CurStat.Flags);
       CurStat.FileSize = ntohl(CurStat.FileSize);
    }      
diff --git a/ftparchive/cachedb.h b/ftparchive/cachedb.h
index edb8594..8892c32 100644
--- a/ftparchive/cachedb.h
+++ b/ftparchive/cachedb.h
@@ -101,6 +101,12 @@ class CacheDB
                   FlSHA512=(1<<6), FlSource=(1<<7),
    };
 
+   // WARNING: this struct is read/written to the DB so do not change the
+   //          layout of the fields (see lp #1274466)
+   //
+   //          As a precaution we always we always re-create the record
+   //          if the size changes. this shouldn't be needed if we only
+   //          append to the struct and use the appropriate flags
    struct StatStore
    {
       uint32_t Flags;