diff --git a/src/providers/ldap/sdap_async_groups.c b/src/providers/ldap/sdap_async_groups.c
index a63313b83f..8d4fa2bb22 100644
--- a/src/providers/ldap/sdap_async_groups.c
+++ b/src/providers/ldap/sdap_async_groups.c
@@ -428,7 +428,7 @@ static int sdap_save_group(TALLOC_CTX *memctx,
 {
     struct ldb_message_element *el;
     struct sysdb_attrs *group_attrs;
-    const char *group_name;
+    const char *group_name = NULL;
     gid_t gid;
     errno_t ret;
     char *usn_value = NULL;