diff --git a/src/main/java/edu/harvard/iq/dataverse/util/FileUtil.java b/src/main/java/edu/harvard/iq/dataverse/util/FileUtil.java
index 26cfb97a0b6..6c540e88fb3 100644
--- a/src/main/java/edu/harvard/iq/dataverse/util/FileUtil.java
+++ b/src/main/java/edu/harvard/iq/dataverse/util/FileUtil.java
@@ -1504,6 +1504,7 @@ public static void validateDataFileChecksum(DataFile dataFile) throws IOExceptio
             boolean fixed = false;
             if (!dataFile.isTabularData() && dataFile.getIngestReport() != null) {
                 // try again, see if the .orig file happens to be there:
+                InputStream in = null;
                 try {
                     in = storage.getAuxFileAsInputStream(FileUtil.SAVED_ORIGINAL_FILENAME_EXTENSION);
                 } catch (IOException ioex) {