diff --git a/kernel/user_namespace.c b/kernel/user_namespace.c
index ce4d99df5f0e..0b0b95418b16 100644
--- a/kernel/user_namespace.c
+++ b/kernel/user_namespace.c
@@ -931,7 +931,7 @@ static ssize_t map_write(struct file *file, const char __user *buf,
 	struct uid_gid_map new_map;
 	unsigned idx;
 	struct uid_gid_extent extent;
-	char *kbuf = NULL, *pos, *next_line;
+	char *kbuf, *pos, *next_line;
 	ssize_t ret;
 
 	/* Only allow < page size writes at the beginning of the file */