diff --git a/apache2/re.c b/apache2/re.c
index 18d55dfb..575a607b 100644
--- a/apache2/re.c
+++ b/apache2/re.c
@@ -1175,7 +1175,7 @@ static void msre_perform_disruptive_actions(modsec_rec *msr, msre_rule *rule,
 static int execute_operator(msre_var *var, msre_rule *rule, modsec_rec *msr,
     msre_actionset *acting_actionset, apr_pool_t *mptmp)
 {
-    apr_time_t time_before_regex;
+    apr_time_t time_before_regex = 0;
     char *my_error_msg = NULL;
     const char *full_varname = NULL;
     int rc;