diff --git a/sycl/include/sycl/kernel_bundle.hpp b/sycl/include/sycl/kernel_bundle.hpp
index 6eed7b270edca..12651407a537f 100644
--- a/sycl/include/sycl/kernel_bundle.hpp
+++ b/sycl/include/sycl/kernel_bundle.hpp
@@ -308,17 +308,19 @@ class kernel_bundle : public detail::kernel_bundle_plain,
   template <auto &SpecName>
   typename std::remove_reference_t<decltype(SpecName)>::value_type
   get_specialization_constant() const {
-    const char *SpecSymName = detail::get_spec_constant_symbolic_ID<SpecName>();
-    if (!is_specialization_constant_set(SpecSymName))
-      return SpecName.getDefaultValue();
-
     using SCType =
         typename std::remove_reference_t<decltype(SpecName)>::value_type;
 
+    const char *SpecSymName = detail::get_spec_constant_symbolic_ID<SpecName>();
+    SCType Res{SpecName.getDefaultValue()};
+    if (!is_specialization_constant_set(SpecSymName))
+      return Res;
+
     std::array<char, sizeof(SCType)> RetValue;
     get_specialization_constant_impl(SpecSymName, RetValue.data());
+    std::memcpy(&Res, RetValue.data(), sizeof(SCType));
 
-    return *reinterpret_cast<SCType *>(RetValue.data());
+    return Res;
   }
 
   /// \returns an iterator to the first device image kernel_bundle contains
diff --git a/sycl/unittests/kernel-and-program/Cache.cpp b/sycl/unittests/kernel-and-program/Cache.cpp
index a4cc58ea360ae..0002aa75e332f 100644
--- a/sycl/unittests/kernel-and-program/Cache.cpp
+++ b/sycl/unittests/kernel-and-program/Cache.cpp
@@ -68,7 +68,11 @@ template <> const char *get_spec_constant_symbolic_ID<SpecConst1>() {
 static sycl::unittest::PiImage generateDefaultImage() {
   using namespace sycl::unittest;
 
+  std::vector<char> SpecConstData;
+  PiProperty SC1 = makeSpecConstant<int>(SpecConstData, "SC1", {0}, {0}, {42});
+
   PiPropertySet PropSet;
+  addSpecConstants({SC1}, std::move(SpecConstData), PropSet);
 
   std::vector<unsigned char> Bin{0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5}; // Random data
 
@@ -256,7 +260,7 @@ TEST_F(KernelAndProgramCacheTest, SpecConstantCacheNegative) {
   detail::KernelProgramCache::ProgramCache &Cache =
       CtxImpl->getKernelProgramCache().acquireCachedPrograms().get();
 
-  EXPECT_EQ(Cache.size(), 1U) << "Expect non-empty cache";
+  EXPECT_EQ(Cache.size(), 2U) << "Expect an entry for each build in the cache.";
 }
 
 // Check that kernel_bundle created through join() is not cached.