diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 3a5f2954..4f0612fb 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ Version 73:
 * Jamroot tweak
 * Verify certificates in SSL clients
 * Adjust benchmarks
+* Initialize local variable in basic_parser
 
 HTTP:
 
diff --git a/include/beast/http/impl/basic_parser.ipp b/include/beast/http/impl/basic_parser.ipp
index 9c94b7c5..ec293c6e 100644
--- a/include/beast/http/impl/basic_parser.ipp
+++ b/include/beast/http/impl/basic_parser.ipp
@@ -375,7 +375,7 @@ parse_start_line(
     if(ec)
         return;
 
-    int version;
+    int version = 0;
     parse_version(p, last, version, ec);
     if(ec)
         return;
@@ -424,7 +424,7 @@ parse_start_line(
 */
     auto p = in;
 
-    int version;
+    int version = 0;
     parse_version(p, last, version, ec);
     if(ec)
         return;