diff --git a/esphome/components/esphome/ota/ota_esphome.cpp b/esphome/components/esphome/ota/ota_esphome.cpp
index ba25c69fae..f71163f79e 100644
--- a/esphome/components/esphome/ota/ota_esphome.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/esphome/ota/ota_esphome.cpp
@@ -560,7 +560,9 @@ bool ESPHomeOTAComponent::handle_auth_send_() {
 
     // CRITICAL ESP32-S3 HARDWARE SHA ACCELERATION: Hash object must stay in same stack frame
     // (no passing to other functions). All hash operations must happen in this function.
-    sha256::SHA256 hasher;
+    // NOTE: On ESP32-S3 with IDF 5.5.x, the SHA256 context must be properly aligned for
+    // hardware SHA acceleration DMA operations.
+    alignas(32) sha256::SHA256 hasher;
 
     const size_t hex_size = hasher.get_size() * 2;
     const size_t nonce_len = hasher.get_size() / 4;
@@ -634,7 +636,9 @@ bool ESPHomeOTAComponent::handle_auth_read_() {
 
   // CRITICAL ESP32-S3 HARDWARE SHA ACCELERATION: Hash object must stay in same stack frame
   // (no passing to other functions). All hash operations must happen in this function.
-  sha256::SHA256 hasher;
+  // NOTE: On ESP32-S3 with IDF 5.5.x, the SHA256 context must be properly aligned for
+  // hardware SHA acceleration DMA operations.
+  alignas(32) sha256::SHA256 hasher;
 
   hasher.init();
   hasher.add(this->password_.c_str(), this->password_.length());
diff --git a/esphome/components/sha256/sha256.cpp b/esphome/components/sha256/sha256.cpp
index 32abbd739d..48559d7c73 100644
--- a/esphome/components/sha256/sha256.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/sha256/sha256.cpp
@@ -10,23 +10,26 @@ namespace esphome::sha256 {
 
 #if defined(USE_ESP32) || defined(USE_LIBRETINY)
 
-// CRITICAL ESP32-S3 HARDWARE SHA ACCELERATION REQUIREMENTS:
+// CRITICAL ESP32-S3 HARDWARE SHA ACCELERATION REQUIREMENTS (IDF 5.5.x):
 //
 // The ESP32-S3 uses hardware DMA for SHA acceleration. The mbedtls_sha256_context structure contains
-// internal state that the DMA engine references. This imposes two critical constraints:
+// internal state that the DMA engine references. This imposes three critical constraints:
 //
-// 1. NO VARIABLE LENGTH ARRAYS (VLAs): VLAs corrupt the stack layout, causing the DMA engine to
+// 1. ALIGNMENT: The SHA256 object MUST be declared with `alignas(32)` for proper DMA alignment.
+//    Without this, the DMA engine may crash with an abort in sha_hal_read_digest().
+//
+// 2. NO VARIABLE LENGTH ARRAYS (VLAs): VLAs corrupt the stack layout, causing the DMA engine to
 //    write to incorrect memory locations. This results in null pointer dereferences and crashes.
 //    ALWAYS use fixed-size arrays (e.g., char buf[65], not char buf[size+1]).
 //
-// 2. SAME STACK FRAME ONLY: The SHA256 object must be created and used entirely within the same
+// 3. SAME STACK FRAME ONLY: The SHA256 object must be created and used entirely within the same
 //    function. NEVER pass the SHA256 object or HashBase pointer to another function. When the stack
 //    frame changes (function call/return), the DMA references become invalid and will produce
 //    truncated hash output (20 bytes instead of 32) or corrupt memory.
 //
 // CORRECT USAGE:
 //   void my_function() {
-//     sha256::SHA256 hasher;  // Created locally
+//     alignas(32) sha256::SHA256 hasher;  // Created locally with proper alignment
 //     hasher.init();
 //     hasher.add(data, len);  // Any size, no chunking needed
 //     hasher.calculate();
@@ -36,7 +39,7 @@ namespace esphome::sha256 {
 //
 // INCORRECT USAGE (WILL FAIL ON ESP32-S3):
 //   void my_function() {
-//     sha256::SHA256 hasher;
+//     sha256::SHA256 hasher;  // WRONG: Missing alignas(32)
 //     helper(&hasher);  // WRONG: Passed to different stack frame
 //   }
 //   void helper(HashBase *h) {
diff --git a/esphome/components/sha256/sha256.h b/esphome/components/sha256/sha256.h
index a2b62799e1..17d80636f1 100644
--- a/esphome/components/sha256/sha256.h
+++ b/esphome/components/sha256/sha256.h
@@ -22,6 +22,18 @@
 
 namespace esphome::sha256 {
 
+/// SHA256 hash implementation.
+///
+/// CRITICAL for ESP32-S3 with IDF 5.5.x hardware SHA acceleration:
+/// 1. SHA256 objects MUST be declared with `alignas(32)` for proper DMA alignment
+/// 2. The object MUST stay in the same stack frame (no passing to other functions)
+/// 3. NO Variable Length Arrays (VLAs) in the same function
+///
+/// Example usage:
+///   alignas(32) sha256::SHA256 hasher;
+///   hasher.init();
+///   hasher.add(data, len);
+///   hasher.calculate();
 class SHA256 : public esphome::HashBase {
  public:
   SHA256() = default;
@@ -39,10 +51,8 @@ class SHA256 : public esphome::HashBase {
 
  protected:
 #if defined(USE_ESP32) || defined(USE_LIBRETINY)
-  // CRITICAL: The mbedtls context MUST be stack-allocated (not a pointer) for ESP32-S3 hardware SHA acceleration.
-  // The ESP32-S3 DMA engine references this structure's memory addresses. If the context is passed to another
-  // function (crossing stack frames) or if VLAs are present, the DMA operations will corrupt memory and produce
-  // truncated/incorrect hash results.
+  // The mbedtls context for ESP32-S3 hardware SHA requires proper alignment and stack frame constraints.
+  // See class documentation above for critical requirements.
   mbedtls_sha256_context ctx_{};
 #elif defined(USE_ESP8266) || defined(USE_RP2040)
   br_sha256_context ctx_{};