diff --git a/Objects/longobject.c b/Objects/longobject.c
index 0ff0e80cd42696..cf13b2c4301778 100644
--- a/Objects/longobject.c
+++ b/Objects/longobject.c
@@ -4312,6 +4312,7 @@ long_pow(PyObject *v, PyObject *w, PyObject *x)
                 goto Error;
             Py_DECREF(a);
             a = temp;
+            temp = NULL;
         }
 
         /* Reduce base by modulus in some cases: