diff --git a/lib/generic-radix-tree.c b/lib/generic-radix-tree.c
index aaefb9b678c8..fa692c86f069 100644
--- a/lib/generic-radix-tree.c
+++ b/lib/generic-radix-tree.c
@@ -121,6 +121,8 @@ void *__genradix_ptr_alloc(struct __genradix *radix, size_t offset,
 		if ((v = cmpxchg_release(&radix->root, r, new_root)) == r) {
 			v = new_root;
 			new_node = NULL;
+		} else {
+			new_node->children[0] = NULL;
 		}
 	}