diff --git a/fs/ext4/verity.c b/fs/ext4/verity.c
index 3c640bd7ecaeb..30e3b65798b50 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/verity.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/verity.c
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ static int pagecache_write(struct inode *inode, const void *buf, size_t count,
 		size_t n = min_t(size_t, count,
 				 PAGE_SIZE - offset_in_page(pos));
 		struct page *page;
-		void *fsdata;
+		void *fsdata = NULL;
 		int res;
 
 		res = aops->write_begin(NULL, mapping, pos, n, &page, &fsdata);