diff --git a/drivers/staging/zcache/zcache-main.c b/drivers/staging/zcache/zcache-main.c
index cf3001c1f407bc6062a1ae1e7edc7bc1872bd688..fb699df307136073634f02b67fd06021ef2151a9 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/zcache/zcache-main.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/zcache/zcache-main.c
@@ -1335,7 +1335,7 @@ static int zcache_local_new_pool(uint32_t flags)
 int zcache_autocreate_pool(unsigned int cli_id, unsigned int pool_id, bool eph)
 {
 	struct tmem_pool *pool;
-	struct zcache_client *cli;
+	struct zcache_client *cli = NULL;
 	uint32_t flags = eph ? 0 : TMEM_POOL_PERSIST;
 	int ret = -1;