diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_hostdev.c b/src/qemu/qemu_hostdev.c
index 81e0e8848c..43c03cce9f 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_hostdev.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_hostdev.c
@@ -633,7 +633,7 @@ qemuPrepareHostdevPCIDevices(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
                              int nhostdevs,
                              virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps)
 {
-    virPCIDeviceListPtr pcidevs;
+    virPCIDeviceListPtr pcidevs = NULL;
     int last_processed_hostdev_vf = -1;
     size_t i;
     int ret = -1;