diff --git a/arch/s390/appldata/appldata_base.c b/arch/s390/appldata/appldata_base.c
index 45c9fa7d7545..af1e8fc7d985 100644
--- a/arch/s390/appldata/appldata_base.c
+++ b/arch/s390/appldata/appldata_base.c
@@ -310,6 +310,7 @@ appldata_interval_handler(ctl_table *ctl, int write, struct file *filp,
 	if (copy_from_user(buf, buffer, len > sizeof(buf) ? sizeof(buf) : len)) {
 		return -EFAULT;
 	}
+	interval = 0;
 	sscanf(buf, "%i", &interval);
 	if (interval <= 0) {
 		P_ERROR("Timer CPU interval has to be > 0!\n");