diff --git a/lib/mpi/mpi-pow.c b/lib/mpi/mpi-pow.c
index a5c921e6d667..d3ca55093fa5 100644
--- a/lib/mpi/mpi-pow.c
+++ b/lib/mpi/mpi-pow.c
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
 int mpi_powm(MPI res, MPI base, MPI exp, MPI mod)
 {
 	mpi_ptr_t mp_marker = NULL, bp_marker = NULL, ep_marker = NULL;
+	struct karatsuba_ctx karactx = {};
 	mpi_ptr_t xp_marker = NULL;
 	mpi_ptr_t tspace = NULL;
 	mpi_ptr_t rp, ep, mp, bp;
@@ -163,13 +164,11 @@ int mpi_powm(MPI res, MPI base, MPI exp, MPI mod)
 		int c;
 		mpi_limb_t e;
 		mpi_limb_t carry_limb;
-		struct karatsuba_ctx karactx;
 
 		xp = xp_marker = mpi_alloc_limb_space(2 * (msize + 1));
 		if (!xp)
 			goto enomem;
 
-		memset(&karactx, 0, sizeof karactx);
 		negative_result = (ep[0] & 1) && base->sign;
 
 		i = esize - 1;
@@ -294,8 +293,6 @@ int mpi_powm(MPI res, MPI base, MPI exp, MPI mod)
 		if (mod_shift_cnt)
 			mpihelp_rshift(rp, rp, rsize, mod_shift_cnt);
 		MPN_NORMALIZE(rp, rsize);
-
-		mpihelp_release_karatsuba_ctx(&karactx);
 	}
 
 	if (negative_result && rsize) {
@@ -312,6 +309,7 @@ int mpi_powm(MPI res, MPI base, MPI exp, MPI mod)
 leave:
 	rc = 0;
 enomem:
+	mpihelp_release_karatsuba_ctx(&karactx);
 	if (assign_rp)
 		mpi_assign_limb_space(res, rp, size);
 	if (mp_marker)