diff --git a/Objects/longobject.c b/Objects/longobject.c
index 5e29e9a7257..d9127b31fd4 100644
--- a/Objects/longobject.c
+++ b/Objects/longobject.c
@@ -4185,6 +4185,7 @@ long_pow(PyObject *v, PyObject *w, PyObject *x)
                 goto Error;
             Py_DECREF(a);
             a = temp;
+            temp = NULL;
         }
 
         /* Reduce base by modulus in some cases: