diff --git a/fs/nfs/inode.c b/fs/nfs/inode.c
index cd4b9073dd20..e9be01b2cc5a 100644
--- a/fs/nfs/inode.c
+++ b/fs/nfs/inode.c
@@ -519,7 +519,7 @@ int nfs_getattr(struct vfsmount *mnt, struct dentry *dentry, struct kstat *stat)
 {
 	struct inode *inode = dentry->d_inode;
 	int need_atime = NFS_I(inode)->cache_validity & NFS_INO_INVALID_ATIME;
-	int err;
+	int err = 0;
 
 	/* Flush out writes to the server in order to update c/mtime.  */
 	if (S_ISREG(inode->i_mode)) {