diff --git a/ares/ares_gethostbyname.c b/ares/ares_gethostbyname.c
index 7c39ad12003a2a68018d2a69c696b8cadbb843d8..33093aaf0dc519b4aa9e835528dbdcbb9725618a 100644
--- a/ares/ares_gethostbyname.c
+++ b/ares/ares_gethostbyname.c
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ static void host_callback(void *arg, int status, int timeouts,
 {
   struct host_query *hquery = (struct host_query *) arg;
   ares_channel channel = hquery->channel;
-  struct hostent *host;
+  struct hostent *host = NULL;
 
   hquery->timeouts += timeouts;
   if (status == ARES_SUCCESS)