diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index e691716c2..98ca6bbde 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+Version 5.4.2  [v5-stable] (rgerhards), 2010-03-??
+- bugfix(minor): status variable was uninitialized
+  However, this would have caused harm only if NO parser modules at
+  all were loaded, which would lead to a defunctional configuration
+  at all. And, even more important, this is impossible as two parser
+  modules are built-in and thus can not be "not loaded", so we always
+  have a minimum of two.
 - bugfix: testbench failed when not executed in UTC+1 timezone
   accidently, the time zone information was kept inside some
   to-be-checked-for responses
diff --git a/runtime/parser.c b/runtime/parser.c
index ca20a11ef..cacbe0652 100644
--- a/runtime/parser.c
+++ b/runtime/parser.c
@@ -448,7 +448,7 @@ ParsePRI(msg_t *pMsg)
 static rsRetVal
 ParseMsg(msg_t *pMsg)
 {
-	rsRetVal localRet;
+	rsRetVal localRet = RS_RET_ERR;
 	parserList_t *pParserList;
 	parser_t *pParser;
 	bool bIsSanitized;