diff --git a/src/sbbs3/answer.cpp b/src/sbbs3/answer.cpp
index f571d0d2170ed18b61120ec1b7928972513e29a0..045463f6b1c18583b2b8d0808ea5fe0285f87cef 100644
--- a/src/sbbs3/answer.cpp
+++ b/src/sbbs3/answer.cpp
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ bool sbbs_t::answer()
 	char	str[MAX_PATH+1],str2[MAX_PATH+1],c;
 	char 	tmp[MAX_PATH];
 	char 	*ctmp;
-	char 	*pubkey;
+	char 	*pubkey{nullptr};
 	size_t  pubkeysz;
 	char 	path[MAX_PATH+1];
 	int		i,l,in;