diff --git a/module/nvpair/nvpair.c b/module/nvpair/nvpair.c
index 77891bf776..2cf1c51a8c 100644
--- a/module/nvpair/nvpair.c
+++ b/module/nvpair/nvpair.c
@@ -1563,7 +1563,7 @@ nvlist_lookup_nvpair_ei_sep(nvlist_t *nvl, const char *name, const char sep,
 	char		*sepp;
 	char		*idxp, *idxep;
 	nvlist_t	**nva;
-	long		idx;
+	long		idx = 0;
 	int		n;
 
 	if (ip)