diff --git a/dirmngr/ks-action.c b/dirmngr/ks-action.c
index 1da91cccf..21aa6465d 100644
--- a/dirmngr/ks-action.c
+++ b/dirmngr/ks-action.c
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ ks_action_search (ctrl_t ctrl, uri_item_t keyservers,
     {
       int is_http = uri->parsed_uri->is_http;
       int is_ldap = 0;
-      unsigned int http_status;
+      unsigned int http_status = 0;
 #if USE_LDAP
       is_ldap = (strcmp (uri->parsed_uri->scheme, "ldap") == 0
 		 || strcmp (uri->parsed_uri->scheme, "ldaps") == 0