diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-kmem.c b/tools/perf/builtin-kmem.c
index 254614b10c4a3bdb33c01f2c0f87d6da22d0315e..950f296dfcf7a402ebbad0df1edf16e4d62a52bd 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-kmem.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-kmem.c
@@ -644,7 +644,7 @@ static char *compact_gfp_flags(char *gfp_flags)
 {
 	char *orig_flags = strdup(gfp_flags);
 	char *new_flags = NULL;
-	char *str, *pos;
+	char *str, *pos = NULL;
 	size_t len = 0;
 
 	if (orig_flags == NULL)