diff --git a/diesel/src/sqlite/connection/serialized_database.rs b/diesel/src/sqlite/connection/serialized_database.rs
index 8584d9109b09..28a98a286131 100644
--- a/diesel/src/sqlite/connection/serialized_database.rs
+++ b/diesel/src/sqlite/connection/serialized_database.rs
@@ -13,7 +13,10 @@ pub struct SerializedDatabase {
 
 impl SerializedDatabase {
     /// Creates a new `SerializedDatabase` with the given data pointer and length.
-    pub fn new(data: *mut u8, len: usize) -> Self {
+    ///
+    /// SAFETY: The data pointer needs to be returned by sqlite
+    ///         and the length must match the underlying buffer pointer
+    pub(crate) unsafe fn new(data: *mut u8, len: usize) -> Self {
         Self { data, len }
     }