diff --git a/src/slurmctld/reservation.c b/src/slurmctld/reservation.c
index 8880fb272c32616cad55a1574937f97994641356..99a10f8fe15c3b157f330b171e2228a5f670616c 100644
--- a/src/slurmctld/reservation.c
+++ b/src/slurmctld/reservation.c
@@ -2113,7 +2113,7 @@ update_failure:
 	iter = list_iterator_create(resv_list);
 	if (!iter)
 		fatal("list_iterator_create: malloc failure");
-	while (resv_next = (slurmctld_resv_t *) list_next(iter)) {
+	while ((resv_next = (slurmctld_resv_t *) list_next(iter))) {
 		if (strcmp(resv_next->name, resv_desc_ptr->name) == 0) {
 			list_delete_item(iter);
 			break;