diff --git a/src/lib/ndpi_utils.c b/src/lib/ndpi_utils.c
index 08fc396b029..3d56d5b2491 100644
--- a/src/lib/ndpi_utils.c
+++ b/src/lib/ndpi_utils.c
@@ -1640,7 +1640,7 @@ static int ndpi_is_xss_injection(char* query) {
 #ifdef HAVE_PCRE
 
 static void ndpi_compile_rce_regex() {
-  const char *pcreErrorStr;
+  const char *pcreErrorStr = NULL;
   int pcreErrorOffset;
 
   for(int i = 0; i < N_RCE_REGEX; i++) {