diff --git a/tools/virtiofsd/passthrough_ll.c b/tools/virtiofsd/passthrough_ll.c
index e8dc5c7320..05b5f898db 100644
--- a/tools/virtiofsd/passthrough_ll.c
+++ b/tools/virtiofsd/passthrough_ll.c
@@ -814,7 +814,6 @@ static int lo_do_lookup(fuse_req_t req, fuse_ino_t parent, const char *name,
         close(newfd);
         newfd = -1;
     } else {
-        saverr = ENOMEM;
         inode = calloc(1, sizeof(struct lo_inode));
         if (!inode) {
             goto out_err;