diff --git a/dlls/mshtml/htmlelem2.c b/dlls/mshtml/htmlelem2.c
index 24aaba550ed..57627651c89 100644
--- a/dlls/mshtml/htmlelem2.c
+++ b/dlls/mshtml/htmlelem2.c
@@ -982,6 +982,7 @@ static HRESULT WINAPI HTMLElement2_get_dir(IHTMLElement2 *iface, BSTR *p)
         return S_OK;
     }
 
+    nsAString_Init(&dir_str, NULL);
     nsres = nsIDOMHTMLElement_GetDir(This->nselem, &dir_str);
     return return_nsstr(nsres, &dir_str, p);
 }