diff --git a/fs/ntfs3/xattr.c b/fs/ntfs3/xattr.c
index fd02fcf4d4091..26787c2bbf758 100644
--- a/fs/ntfs3/xattr.c
+++ b/fs/ntfs3/xattr.c
@@ -141,6 +141,7 @@ static int ntfs_read_ea(struct ntfs_inode *ni, struct EA_FULL **ea,
 
 	memset(Add2Ptr(ea_p, size), 0, add_bytes);
 
+	err = -EINVAL;
 	/* Check all attributes for consistency. */
 	for (off = 0; off < size; off += ea_size) {
 		const struct EA_FULL *ef = Add2Ptr(ea_p, off);