diff --git a/lib/string.c b/lib/string.c
index b375b8124a9a1879a831d79b8f956bf8ae8a9537..2c4f0ec9a11f8e7219b9c5d40659616bf4bc6aaf 100644
--- a/lib/string.c
+++ b/lib/string.c
@@ -467,6 +467,9 @@ void * memcpy(void *dest, const void *src, size_t count)
 	unsigned long *dl = (unsigned long *)dest, *sl = (unsigned long *)src;
 	char *d8, *s8;
 
+	if (src == dest)
+		return dest;
+
 	/* while all data is aligned (common case), copy a word at a time */
 	if ( (((ulong)dest | (ulong)src) & (sizeof(*dl) - 1)) == 0) {
 		while (count >= sizeof(*dl)) {
@@ -497,6 +500,9 @@ void * memmove(void * dest,const void *src,size_t count)
 {
 	char *tmp, *s;
 
+	if (src == dest)
+		return dest;
+
 	if (dest <= src) {
 		tmp = (char *) dest;
 		s = (char *) src;