diff --git a/src/io.c b/src/io.c
index 1b47a8340..070bc8c63 100644
--- a/src/io.c
+++ b/src/io.c
@@ -758,7 +758,7 @@ int EmbedOcspLookup(void* ctx, const char* url, int urlSz,
 {
     char domainName[80], path[80];
     int httpBufSz;
-    SOCKET_T sfd;
+    SOCKET_T sfd = 0;
     word16 port;
     int ocspRespSz = 0;
     byte* httpBuf = NULL;