diff --git a/libavcodec/libx264.c b/libavcodec/libx264.c
index a1b044d4e9..2bbd9044b6 100644
--- a/libavcodec/libx264.c
+++ b/libavcodec/libx264.c
@@ -1107,8 +1107,10 @@ static av_cold int X264_init(AVCodecContext *avctx)
     x4->nb_reordered_opaque = x264_encoder_maximum_delayed_frames(x4->enc) + 17;
     x4->reordered_opaque    = av_calloc(x4->nb_reordered_opaque,
                                         sizeof(*x4->reordered_opaque));
-    if (!x4->reordered_opaque)
+    if (!x4->reordered_opaque) {
+        x4->nb_reordered_opaque = 0;
         return AVERROR(ENOMEM);
+    }
 
     return 0;
 }