diff --git a/fs/smb/client/smb2ops.c b/fs/smb/client/smb2ops.c
index 450e3050324c6c1e86b16983a2d6e981437bed02..ab6e79be2c15dd198c409d549aa74e18d60c1e6c 100644
--- a/fs/smb/client/smb2ops.c
+++ b/fs/smb/client/smb2ops.c
@@ -1122,7 +1122,7 @@ smb2_set_ea(const unsigned int xid, struct cifs_tcon *tcon,
 	struct cifs_fid fid;
 	unsigned int size[1];
 	void *data[1];
-	struct smb2_file_full_ea_info *ea = NULL;
+	struct smb2_file_full_ea_info *ea;
 	struct smb2_query_info_rsp *rsp;
 	int rc, used_len = 0;
 	int retries = 0, cur_sleep = 1;
@@ -1143,6 +1143,7 @@ smb2_set_ea(const unsigned int xid, struct cifs_tcon *tcon,
 	if (!utf16_path)
 		return -ENOMEM;
 
+	ea = NULL;
 	resp_buftype[0] = resp_buftype[1] = resp_buftype[2] = CIFS_NO_BUFFER;
 	vars = kzalloc(sizeof(*vars), GFP_KERNEL);
 	if (!vars) {