diff --git a/lib/emscripten/src/lib.rs b/lib/emscripten/src/lib.rs
index 70d62d950..d260351b9 100644
--- a/lib/emscripten/src/lib.rs
+++ b/lib/emscripten/src/lib.rs
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ mod lock;
 mod math;
 mod memory;
 mod process;
+mod ptr;
 mod signal;
 mod storage;
 mod syscalls;
diff --git a/lib/emscripten/src/ptr.rs b/lib/emscripten/src/ptr.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3644fcf9c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/emscripten/src/ptr.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,119 @@
+use std::{cell::Cell, fmt, marker::PhantomData, mem};
+use wasmer_runtime_core::{
+    memory::Memory,
+    types::{ValueType, WasmExternType},
+};
+
+pub struct Array;
+pub struct Item;
+
+// TODO: before shipping, refactor this and the wasi code into a common crate
+// and wrap it when used in the context of wasi to return the proper error codes
+
+#[repr(transparent)]
+pub struct WasmPtr<T: Copy, Ty = Item> {
+    offset: u32,
+    _phantom: PhantomData<(T, Ty)>,
+}
+
+impl<T: Copy, Ty> WasmPtr<T, Ty> {
+    #[inline]
+    pub fn new(offset: u32) -> Self {
+        Self {
+            offset,
+            _phantom: PhantomData,
+        }
+    }
+
+    #[inline]
+    pub fn offset(self) -> i32 {
+        self.offset as i32
+    }
+}
+
+#[inline(always)]
+fn align_pointer(ptr: usize, align: usize) -> usize {
+    // clears bits below aligment amount (assumes power of 2) to align pointer
+    debug_assert!(align.count_ones() == 1);
+    ptr & !(align - 1)
+}
+
+impl<T: Copy + ValueType> WasmPtr<T, Item> {
+    #[inline]
+    pub fn deref<'a>(self, memory: &'a Memory) -> Option<&'a Cell<T>> {
+        if (self.offset as usize) + mem::size_of::<T>() >= memory.size().bytes().0 {
+            return None;
+        }
+        unsafe {
+            let cell_ptr = align_pointer(
+                memory.view::<u8>().as_ptr().add(self.offset as usize) as usize,
+                mem::align_of::<T>(),
+            ) as *const Cell<T>;
+            Some(&*cell_ptr)
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+impl<T: Copy + ValueType> WasmPtr<T, Array> {
+    #[inline]
+    pub fn deref<'a>(self, memory: &'a Memory, index: u32, length: u32) -> Option<&'a [Cell<T>]> {
+        if (self.offset as usize) + (mem::size_of::<T>() * ((index + length) as usize))
+            >= memory.size().bytes().0
+        {
+            return None;
+        }
+
+        // gets the size of the item in the array with padding added such that
+        // for any index, we will always result an aligned memory access
+        let item_size = mem::size_of::<T>() + (mem::size_of::<T>() % mem::align_of::<T>());
+        let base_idx = (self.offset as usize) / item_size;
+        unsafe {
+            let cell_ptrs = memory
+                .view::<T>()
+                .get_unchecked(base_idx + (index as usize)..base_idx + ((index + length) as usize))
+                as *const _;
+            Some(&*cell_ptrs)
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+unsafe impl<T: Copy, Ty> WasmExternType for WasmPtr<T, Ty> {
+    type Native = i32;
+
+    fn to_native(self) -> Self::Native {
+        self.offset as i32
+    }
+    fn from_native(n: Self::Native) -> Self {
+        Self {
+            offset: n as u32,
+            _phantom: PhantomData,
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+unsafe impl<T: Copy, Ty> ValueType for WasmPtr<T, Ty> {}
+
+impl<T: Copy, Ty> Clone for WasmPtr<T, Ty> {
+    fn clone(&self) -> Self {
+        Self {
+            offset: self.offset,
+            _phantom: PhantomData,
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+impl<T: Copy, Ty> Copy for WasmPtr<T, Ty> {}
+
+impl<T: Copy, Ty> PartialEq for WasmPtr<T, Ty> {
+    fn eq(&self, other: &Self) -> bool {
+        self.offset == other.offset
+    }
+}
+
+impl<T: Copy, Ty> Eq for WasmPtr<T, Ty> {}
+
+impl<T: Copy, Ty> fmt::Debug for WasmPtr<T, Ty> {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter) -> fmt::Result {
+        write!(f, "WasmPtr({:#x})", self.offset)
+    }
+}
diff --git a/lib/emscripten/src/syscalls/mod.rs b/lib/emscripten/src/syscalls/mod.rs
index 94f118947..66886feb1 100644
--- a/lib/emscripten/src/syscalls/mod.rs
+++ b/lib/emscripten/src/syscalls/mod.rs
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ pub use self::unix::*;
 #[cfg(windows)]
 pub use self::windows::*;
 
+use crate::ptr::{Array, WasmPtr};
 use crate::utils::{copy_stat_into_wasm, get_cstr_path, get_current_directory};
 
 use super::varargs::VarArgs;
@@ -77,7 +78,7 @@ pub fn ___syscall3(ctx: &mut Ctx, _which: i32, mut varargs: VarArgs) -> i32 {
 pub fn ___syscall4(ctx: &mut Ctx, _which: c_int, mut varargs: VarArgs) -> c_int {
     debug!("emscripten::___syscall4 (write) {}", _which);
     let fd: i32 = varargs.get(ctx);
-    let buf: u32 = varargs.get(ctx);
+    let buf: i32 = varargs.get(ctx);
     let count: i32 = varargs.get(ctx);
     debug!("=> fd: {}, buf: {}, count: {}", fd, buf, count);
     let buf_addr = emscripten_memory_pointer!(ctx.memory(0), buf) as *const c_void;
@@ -270,21 +271,18 @@ pub fn ___syscall110(_ctx: &mut Ctx, _one: i32, _two: i32) -> i32 {
 // getcwd
 pub fn ___syscall183(ctx: &mut Ctx, _which: c_int, mut varargs: VarArgs) -> i32 {
     debug!("emscripten::___syscall183");
-    let buf_offset: c_int = varargs.get(ctx);
+    let buf_offset: WasmPtr<libc::c_char, Array> = varargs.get(ctx);
     let _size: c_int = varargs.get(ctx);
     let path = get_current_directory(ctx);
     let path_string = path.unwrap().display().to_string();
     let len = path_string.len();
-    unsafe {
-        let pointer_to_buffer =
-            emscripten_memory_pointer!(ctx.memory(0), buf_offset) as *mut libc::c_char;
-        let slice = slice::from_raw_parts_mut(pointer_to_buffer, len.clone());
-        for (byte, loc) in path_string.bytes().zip(slice.iter_mut()) {
-            *loc = byte as _;
-        }
-        *pointer_to_buffer.add(len.clone()) = 0;
+
+    let buf_writer = buf_offset.deref(ctx.memory(0), 0, len as u32 + 1).unwrap();
+    for (i, byte) in path_string.bytes().enumerate() {
+        buf_writer[i].set(byte as i8);
     }
-    buf_offset
+    buf_writer[len].set(0);
+    buf_offset.offset()
 }
 
 // mmap2
diff --git a/lib/wasi/src/ptr.rs b/lib/wasi/src/ptr.rs
index 55a16d40c..463e356f1 100644
--- a/lib/wasi/src/ptr.rs
+++ b/lib/wasi/src/ptr.rs
@@ -29,6 +29,13 @@ impl<T: Copy, Ty> WasmPtr<T, Ty> {
     }
 }
 
+#[inline(always)]
+fn align_pointer(ptr: usize, align: usize) -> usize {
+    // clears bits below aligment amount (assumes power of 2) to align pointer
+    debug_assert!(align.count_ones() == 1);
+    ptr & !(align - 1)
+}
+
 impl<T: Copy + ValueType> WasmPtr<T, Item> {
     #[inline]
     pub fn deref<'a>(self, memory: &'a Memory) -> Result<&'a Cell<T>, __wasi_errno_t> {
@@ -36,9 +43,7 @@ impl<T: Copy + ValueType> WasmPtr<T, Item> {
             return Err(__WASI_EFAULT);
         }
         unsafe {
-            // clears bits below aligment amount (assumes power of 2) to align pointer
-            let aligner = |ptr: usize, align: usize| ptr & !(align - 1);
-            let cell_ptr = aligner(
+            let cell_ptr = align_pointer(
                 memory.view::<u8>().as_ptr().add(self.offset as usize) as usize,
                 mem::align_of::<T>(),
             ) as *const Cell<T>;
@@ -61,12 +66,15 @@ impl<T: Copy + ValueType> WasmPtr<T, Array> {
             return Err(__WASI_EFAULT);
         }
 
+        // gets the size of the item in the array with padding added such that
+        // for any index, we will always result an aligned memory access
+        let item_size = mem::size_of::<T>() + (mem::size_of::<T>() % mem::align_of::<T>());
+        let base_idx = (self.offset as usize) / item_size;
         unsafe {
-            let cell_ptrs = memory.view::<T>().get_unchecked(
-                ((self.offset as usize) / mem::size_of::<T>()) + (index as usize)
-                    ..((self.offset() as usize) / mem::size_of::<T>())
-                        + ((index + length) as usize),
-            ) as *const _;
+            let cell_ptrs = memory
+                .view::<T>()
+                .get_unchecked(base_idx + (index as usize)..base_idx + ((index + length) as usize))
+                as *const _;
             Ok(&*cell_ptrs)
         }
     }