diff --git a/src/core/serialize.c b/src/core/serialize.c
index bdbab209e..21cccc8b9 100644
--- a/src/core/serialize.c
+++ b/src/core/serialize.c
@@ -305,20 +305,20 @@ bool mCoreSaveStateNamed(struct mCore* core, struct VFile* vf, int flags) {
 	size_t stateSize = core->stateSize(core);
 
 	if (flags & SAVESTATE_METADATA) {
-		uint64_t creationUsec;
+		uint64_t* creationUsec = malloc(sizeof(*creationUsec));
 #ifndef _MSC_VER
 		struct timeval tv;
 		if (!gettimeofday(&tv, 0)) {
 			uint64_t usec = tv.tv_usec;
 			usec += tv.tv_sec * 1000000LL;
-			STORE_64LE(usec, 0, &creationUsec);
+			STORE_64LE(usec, 0, creationUsec);
 		}
 #else
 		struct timespec ts;
 		if (timespec_get(&ts, TIME_UTC)) {
 			uint64_t usec = ts.tv_nsec / 1000;
 			usec += ts.tv_sec * 1000000LL;
-			STORE_64LE(usec, 0, &creationUsec);
+			STORE_64LE(usec, 0, creationUsec);
 		}
 #endif
 		else {
@@ -326,11 +326,10 @@ bool mCoreSaveStateNamed(struct mCore* core, struct VFile* vf, int flags) {
 		}
 
 		struct mStateExtdataItem item = {
-			.size = sizeof(creationUsec),
-			.data = malloc(sizeof(creationUsec)),
+			.size = sizeof(*creationUsec),
+			.data = creationUsec,
 			.clean = free
 		};
-		*(uint64_t*) item.data = creationUsec;
 		mStateExtdataPut(&extdata, EXTDATA_META_TIME, &item);
 	}