diff --git a/backends/vhost-user.c b/backends/vhost-user.c
index 0a13506c98..2bf3406525 100644
--- a/backends/vhost-user.c
+++ b/backends/vhost-user.c
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ vhost_user_backend_dev_init(VhostUserBackend *b, VirtIODevice *vdev,
 
     b->vdev = vdev;
     b->dev.nvqs = nvqs;
-    b->dev.vqs = g_new(struct vhost_virtqueue, nvqs);
+    b->dev.vqs = g_new0(struct vhost_virtqueue, nvqs);
 
     ret = vhost_dev_init(&b->dev, &b->vhost_user, VHOST_BACKEND_TYPE_USER, 0);
     if (ret < 0) {