diff --git a/modules/lua/lua_request.c b/modules/lua/lua_request.c
index 452f8ea6d5..e1a2bc7236 100644
--- a/modules/lua/lua_request.c
+++ b/modules/lua/lua_request.c
@@ -1895,6 +1895,7 @@ static int lua_get_cookie(lua_State *L)
     const char *key, *cookie;
     request_rec *r = ap_lua_check_request_rec(L, 1);
     key = luaL_checkstring(L, 2);
+    cookie = NULL;
     ap_cookie_read(r, key, &cookie, 0);
     if (cookie != NULL) {
         lua_pushstring(L, cookie);