diff --git a/security/selinux/ss/hashtab.c b/security/selinux/ss/hashtab.c
index 727c3b484bd3..0ae4e4e57a40 100644
--- a/security/selinux/ss/hashtab.c
+++ b/security/selinux/ss/hashtab.c
@@ -31,13 +31,20 @@ static u32 hashtab_compute_size(u32 nel)
 
 int hashtab_init(struct hashtab *h, u32 nel_hint)
 {
-	h->size = hashtab_compute_size(nel_hint);
-	h->nel = 0;
-	if (!h->size)
-		return 0;
+	u32 size = hashtab_compute_size(nel_hint);
 
-	h->htable = kcalloc(h->size, sizeof(*h->htable), GFP_KERNEL);
-	return h->htable ? 0 : -ENOMEM;
+	/* should already be zeroed, but better be safe */
+	h->nel = 0;
+	h->size = 0;
+	h->htable = NULL;
+
+	if (size) {
+		h->htable = kcalloc(size, sizeof(*h->htable), GFP_KERNEL);
+		if (!h->htable)
+			return -ENOMEM;
+		h->size = size;
+	}
+	return 0;
 }
 
 int __hashtab_insert(struct hashtab *h, struct hashtab_node **dst,