diff --git a/compiler/src/dotty/tools/dotc/core/tasty/AttributePickler.scala b/compiler/src/dotty/tools/dotc/core/tasty/AttributePickler.scala
index 869081e7b9bc..806baacaf822 100644
--- a/compiler/src/dotty/tools/dotc/core/tasty/AttributePickler.scala
+++ b/compiler/src/dotty/tools/dotc/core/tasty/AttributePickler.scala
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import dotty.tools.tasty.TastyBuffer
 import dotty.tools.tasty.TastyFormat.AttributesSection
 
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets
+import dotty.tools.tasty.TastyFormat
 
 object AttributePickler:
 
diff --git a/compiler/src/dotty/tools/dotc/core/tasty/AttributeUnpickler.scala b/compiler/src/dotty/tools/dotc/core/tasty/AttributeUnpickler.scala
index 85d2e64e9593..1dc3792c3807 100644
--- a/compiler/src/dotty/tools/dotc/core/tasty/AttributeUnpickler.scala
+++ b/compiler/src/dotty/tools/dotc/core/tasty/AttributeUnpickler.scala
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ class AttributeUnpickler(reader: TastyReader):
   private[tasty] lazy val attributes: List[String] = {
     val attributesBuilder = List.newBuilder[String]
     while (!isAtEnd) {
+      val kind = readNat()
+      assert(kind == TastyFormat.FLAGattr, "Malformed attribute kind")
       val length = readNat()
       val bytes = readBytes(length)
       val attribute = new String(bytes, StandardCharsets.UTF_8)
diff --git a/tasty/src/dotty/tools/tasty/TastyFormat.scala b/tasty/src/dotty/tools/tasty/TastyFormat.scala
index 887109d16cf0..34734d5093b8 100644
--- a/tasty/src/dotty/tools/tasty/TastyFormat.scala
+++ b/tasty/src/dotty/tools/tasty/TastyFormat.scala
@@ -270,7 +270,7 @@ Standard Section: "Comments" Comment*
 
 Standard Section: "Attributes" Attribute*
 ```none
-  Attribute     = UTF8                      // attributes match the regex [a-zA-Z0-9]+
+  Attribute     = FLAGattr UTF8             // attributes match the regex [a-zA-Z0-9]+
 ```
 
 **************************************************************************************/
@@ -606,6 +606,11 @@ object TastyFormat {
   final val firstNatASTTreeTag = IDENT
   final val firstLengthTreeTag = PACKAGE
 
+
+  // Attribute tags
+
+  final val FLAGattr = 1
+
   /** Useful for debugging */
   def isLegalTag(tag: Int): Boolean =
     firstSimpleTreeTag <= tag && tag <= SPLITCLAUSE ||