diff --git a/src/tests.c b/src/tests.c
index 99d9468e29..ce8df45a29 100644
--- a/src/tests.c
+++ b/src/tests.c
@@ -5262,17 +5262,19 @@ void test_ecdsa_sign_verify(void) {
     secp256k1_scalar msg, key;
     secp256k1_scalar sigr, sigs;
     int getrec;
-    /* Initialize recid to suppress a false positive -Wconditional-uninitialized in clang.
-       VG_UNDEF ensures that valgrind will still treat the variable as uninitialized. */
-    int recid = -1; VG_UNDEF(&recid, sizeof(recid));
+    int recid;
     random_scalar_order_test(&msg);
     random_scalar_order_test(&key);
     secp256k1_ecmult_gen(&ctx->ecmult_gen_ctx, &pubj, &key);
     secp256k1_ge_set_gej(&pub, &pubj);
     getrec = secp256k1_testrand_bits(1);
-    random_sign(&sigr, &sigs, &key, &msg, getrec?&recid:NULL);
+    /* The specific way in which this conditional is written sidesteps a potential bug in clang.
+       See the commit messages of the commit that introduced this comment for details. */
     if (getrec) {
+        random_sign(&sigr, &sigs, &key, &msg, &recid);
         CHECK(recid >= 0 && recid < 4);
+    } else {
+        random_sign(&sigr, &sigs, &key, &msg, NULL);
     }
     CHECK(secp256k1_ecdsa_sig_verify(&ctx->ecmult_ctx, &sigr, &sigs, &pub, &msg));
     secp256k1_scalar_set_int(&one, 1);