diff --git a/src/detect-xbits.c b/src/detect-xbits.c
index e2181637aa..bb88c008ab 100644
--- a/src/detect-xbits.c
+++ b/src/detect-xbits.c
@@ -374,7 +374,7 @@ static int DetectXbitParse(DetectEngineCtx *de_ctx,
         }
     }
 
-    cd = SCMalloc(sizeof(DetectXbitsData));
+    cd = SCCalloc(1, sizeof(DetectXbitsData));
     if (unlikely(cd == NULL))
         return -1;