diff --git a/src/feature/rend/rendclient.c b/src/feature/rend/rendclient.c
index 090722a4c5..f84d221b1a 100644
--- a/src/feature/rend/rendclient.c
+++ b/src/feature/rend/rendclient.c
@@ -469,7 +469,7 @@ directory_get_from_hs_dir(const char *desc_id,
 
   /* Automatically pick an hs dir if none given. */
   if (!rs_hsdir) {
-    bool rate_limited;
+    bool rate_limited = false;
 
     /* Determine responsible dirs. Even if we can't get all we want, work with
      * the ones we have. If it's empty, we'll notice in hs_pick_hsdir(). */