diff --git a/src/srun/net.c b/src/srun/net.c
index fbd2b2308421169755b46f66f85cd61719b774e9..f00c9eb5dc4abf9a0bdf7e9ce206d6e7a19d5ca6 100644
--- a/src/srun/net.c
+++ b/src/srun/net.c
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ int accept_stream(int fd)
 
 int readn(int fd, void *buf, size_t nbytes)
 {
-	int n;
+	int n = 0;
 	char *pbuf = (char *)buf;
 	size_t nleft = nbytes;