diff --git a/fs/debugfs/inode.c b/fs/debugfs/inode.c
index 153bb1e42e631e07b41c5d87d82fd660388ed22e..d329f9c5575398f0977b715cc8eca7c23c30140d 100644
--- a/fs/debugfs/inode.c
+++ b/fs/debugfs/inode.c
@@ -322,7 +322,6 @@ static struct dentry *__create_file(const char *name, umode_t mode,
 	if (!parent)
 		parent = debugfs_mount->mnt_root;
 
-	dentry = NULL;
 	mutex_lock(&parent->d_inode->i_mutex);
 	dentry = lookup_one_len(name, parent, strlen(name));
 	if (!IS_ERR(dentry)) {