diff --git a/wolfcrypt/src/sha512.c b/wolfcrypt/src/sha512.c
index a84c3943a..a0a0b3b4a 100644
--- a/wolfcrypt/src/sha512.c
+++ b/wolfcrypt/src/sha512.c
@@ -956,13 +956,15 @@ int wc_Sha512Update(wc_Sha512* sha512, const byte* data, word32 len)
 
 static WC_INLINE int Sha512Final(wc_Sha512* sha512)
 {
-    byte* local = (byte*)sha512->buffer;
+    byte* local;
     int ret;
 
     if (sha512 == NULL) {
         return BAD_FUNC_ARG;
     }
 
+    local = (byte*)sha512->buffer;
+
     local[sha512->buffLen++] = 0x80;  /* add 1 */
 
     /* pad with zeros */