diff --git a/lib/multi.c b/lib/multi.c
index 0da68317a8fcd9f11913defb3ac47046654e0bfa..18bfba2bde00565120d875560ff18d037efa2808 100644
--- a/lib/multi.c
+++ b/lib/multi.c
@@ -380,7 +380,7 @@ CURLMcode curl_multi_perform(CURLM *multi_handle, int *running_handles)
       case CURLM_STATE_WAITRESOLVE:
         /* awaiting an asynch name resolve to complete */
       {
-        struct Curl_dns_entry *dns;
+        struct Curl_dns_entry *dns = NULL;
 
         /* check if we have the name resolved by now */
         easy->result = Curl_is_resolved(easy->easy_conn, &dns);