diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 3860cadfd1..875e734657 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+2026-04-13  Bruno Haible  <bruno@clisp.org>
+
+	regex: Fix use of uninitialized variable (regression yesterday).
+	Reported by Coverity.
+	* lib/regexec.c (re_search_internal): Move initialization of variable
+	'save_state_log' further up.
+
 2026-04-12  Jim Meyering  <meyering@meta.com>
 
 	regex: small simplification
diff --git a/lib/regexec.c b/lib/regexec.c
index 259dfd36c6..7095c4bf5b 100644
--- a/lib/regexec.c
+++ b/lib/regexec.c
@@ -627,6 +627,8 @@ re_search_internal (const regex_t *preg, const char *string, Idx length,
   /* We must check the longest matching, if nmatch > 0.  */
   fl_longest_match = (nmatch != 0 || dfa->nbackref);
 
+  re_dfastate_t **save_state_log = NULL;
+
   err = re_string_allocate (&mctx.input, string, length, dfa->nodes_len + 1,
 			    preg->translate, (preg->syntax & RE_ICASE) != 0,
 			    dfa);
@@ -678,8 +680,6 @@ re_search_internal (const regex_t *preg, const char *string, Idx length,
 	| (t != NULL ? 1 : 0))
      : 8);
 
-  re_dfastate_t **save_state_log = NULL;
-
   for (;; match_first += incr)
     {
       err = REG_NOMATCH;