diff --git a/kernel/sched/fair.c b/kernel/sched/fair.c
index 40667cbf371b..fe331fc391f5 100644
--- a/kernel/sched/fair.c
+++ b/kernel/sched/fair.c
@@ -1730,7 +1730,7 @@ static int preferred_group_nid(struct task_struct *p, int nid)
 	nodes = node_online_map;
 	for (dist = sched_max_numa_distance; dist > LOCAL_DISTANCE; dist--) {
 		unsigned long max_faults = 0;
-		nodemask_t max_group;
+		nodemask_t max_group = NODE_MASK_NONE;
 		int a, b;
 
 		/* Are there nodes at this distance from each other? */