diff --git a/Modules/bsddbmodule.c b/Modules/bsddbmodule.c
index b3474c4..2f0d05d 100644
--- a/Modules/bsddbmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/bsddbmodule.c
@@ -433,7 +433,7 @@
 {
 	PyObject *list, *item;
 	DBT krec, drec;
-	char *data,buf[4096];
+	char *data=NULL,buf[4096];
 	int status;
 	int err;
 
@@ -556,8 +556,8 @@
 {
 	int status;
 	DBT krec, drec;
-	char *kdata,kbuf[4096];
-	char *ddata,dbuf[4096];
+	char *kdata=NULL,kbuf[4096];
+	char *ddata=NULL,dbuf[4096];
 	PyObject *result;
 
 	if (!PyArg_NoArgs(args))