diff --git a/builtin/fsck.c b/builtin/fsck.c
index 2119758ef4..38922a369d 100644
--- a/builtin/fsck.c
+++ b/builtin/fsck.c
@@ -853,6 +853,7 @@ int cmd_fsck(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 
 	errors_found = 0;
 	read_replace_refs = 0;
+	save_commit_buffer = 0;
 
 	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, prefix, fsck_opts, fsck_usage, 0);