diff --git a/src/common/read_config.c b/src/common/read_config.c
index f2473365a3a900d8acf59a9534762bfae9728687..68c0ccc6e048eef54019b82f0ff1e4b93fb63a4f 100644
--- a/src/common/read_config.c
+++ b/src/common/read_config.c
@@ -454,7 +454,6 @@ static void _set_node_prefix(const char *nodenames)
 		conf_ptr->node_prefix = xstrdup(nodenames);
 	else {
 		tmp = xmalloc(sizeof(char)*i+1);
-		memset(tmp, 0, i+1);
 		snprintf(tmp, i, "%s", nodenames);
 		conf_ptr->node_prefix = tmp;
 		tmp = NULL;