diff --git a/src/security/security_apparmor.c b/src/security/security_apparmor.c
index eb80d23af8..adc9918351 100644
--- a/src/security/security_apparmor.c
+++ b/src/security/security_apparmor.c
@@ -683,7 +683,7 @@ AppArmorSetSecurityImageLabel(virSecurityManagerPtr mgr,
                               virDomainDefPtr def, virDomainDiskDefPtr disk)
 {
     int rc = -1;
-    char *profile_name;
+    char *profile_name = NULL;
     const virSecurityLabelDefPtr secdef =
         virDomainDefGetSecurityLabelDef(def, SECURITY_APPARMOR_NAME);