diff --git a/kernel/fork.c b/kernel/fork.c
index 9d40367dd5d..43958d41e65 100644
--- a/kernel/fork.c
+++ b/kernel/fork.c
@@ -978,7 +978,7 @@ static struct task_struct *copy_process(unsigned long clone_flags,
 					struct pid *pid)
 {
 	int retval;
-	struct task_struct *p = NULL;
+	struct task_struct *p;
 	int cgroup_callbacks_done = 0;
 
 	if ((clone_flags & (CLONE_NEWNS|CLONE_FS)) == (CLONE_NEWNS|CLONE_FS))