diff --git a/drivers/infiniband/core/iwpm_util.c b/drivers/infiniband/core/iwpm_util.c
index 54f4feb604d8..358a2db38d23 100644
--- a/drivers/infiniband/core/iwpm_util.c
+++ b/drivers/infiniband/core/iwpm_util.c
@@ -762,7 +762,7 @@ int iwpm_send_hello(u8 nl_client, int iwpm_pid, u16 abi_version)
 {
 	struct sk_buff *skb = NULL;
 	struct nlmsghdr *nlh;
-	const char *err_str = "";
+	const char *err_str;
 	int ret = -EINVAL;
 
 	skb = iwpm_create_nlmsg(RDMA_NL_IWPM_HELLO, &nlh, nl_client);