--- a/libelf/elf_getarsym.c
+++ b/libelf/elf_getarsym.c
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ elf_getarsym (Elf *elf, size_t *ptr)
/* We have an archive. The first word in there is the number of
entries in the table. */
- uint64_t n;
+ uint64_t n = 0;
size_t off = elf->start_offset + SARMAG + sizeof (struct ar_hdr);
if (read_number_entries (&n, elf, &off, index64_p) < 0)
{