diff --git a/onnxruntime/core/common/path.cc b/onnxruntime/core/common/path.cc
index d7378efbb3..ed7e286f46 100644
--- a/onnxruntime/core/common/path.cc
+++ b/onnxruntime/core/common/path.cc
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ Status Path::Parse(const PathString& original_path_str, Path& path) {
   const PathString path_str = NormalizePathSeparators(original_path_str);
 
   // parse root
-  size_t root_length;
+  size_t root_length = 0;
   ORT_RETURN_IF_ERROR(ParsePathRoot(
       path_str, result.root_name_, result.has_root_dir_, root_length));