diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c b/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c
index 90cde651..7bdb3c4e 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c
@@ -3514,7 +3514,7 @@ reload_sysroot_config (OstreeRepo          *self,
    * https://github.com/ostreedev/ostree/issues/1719
    * https://github.com/ostreedev/ostree/issues/1801
    */
-  gboolean valid_bootloader;
+  gboolean valid_bootloader = FALSE;
   for (int i = 0; CFG_SYSROOT_BOOTLOADER_OPTS_STR[i]; i++)
     {
       if (g_str_equal (bootloader, CFG_SYSROOT_BOOTLOADER_OPTS_STR[i]))