diff --git a/fs/ecryptfs/keystore.c b/fs/ecryptfs/keystore.c
index 2333203a120b3b853f71ef011a0755a3be04fd6a..6154cde3a052b7a233b1be06dc5b38667a846810 100644
--- a/fs/ecryptfs/keystore.c
+++ b/fs/ecryptfs/keystore.c
@@ -1150,7 +1150,7 @@ decrypt_pki_encrypted_session_key(struct ecryptfs_auth_tok *auth_tok,
 	struct ecryptfs_message *msg = NULL;
 	char *auth_tok_sig;
 	char *payload;
-	size_t payload_len;
+	size_t payload_len = 0;
 	int rc;
 
 	rc = ecryptfs_get_auth_tok_sig(&auth_tok_sig, auth_tok);