diff --git a/lib/iov_iter.c b/lib/iov_iter.c
index 4d5bf40d399dc07f68966ff10b637839f0b1f776..fdae394172fa78efaf3637266492c5a5823ce41a 100644
--- a/lib/iov_iter.c
+++ b/lib/iov_iter.c
@@ -1102,7 +1102,7 @@ static ssize_t pipe_get_pages_alloc(struct iov_iter *i,
 		   size_t *start)
 {
 	struct page **p;
-	size_t n;
+	ssize_t n;
 	int idx;
 	int npages;