diff --git a/hl/src/H5TB.c b/hl/src/H5TB.c
index e718605b5a3..82977b3253c 100644
--- a/hl/src/H5TB.c
+++ b/hl/src/H5TB.c
@@ -2025,7 +2025,7 @@ H5TBinsert_field(hid_t loc_id, const char *dset_name, const char *field_name, hi
         goto out;
 
     /* alloc fill value attribute buffer */
-    if (NULL == (tmp_fill_buf = (unsigned char *)malloc(total_size)))
+    if (NULL == (tmp_fill_buf = (unsigned char *)calloc(1, total_size)))
         goto out;
 
     /* get the fill value attributes */
diff --git a/hl/test/test_table.c b/hl/test/test_table.c
index c6614343037..8996fa46480 100644
--- a/hl/test/test_table.c
+++ b/hl/test/test_table.c
@@ -376,6 +376,8 @@ test_table(hid_t fid, int do_write)
     field_type[3] = H5T_NATIVE_DOUBLE;
     field_type[4] = H5T_NATIVE_INT;
 
+    memset(wbufd, 0, NRECORDS * sizeof(particle_t));
+
     /*-------------------------------------------------------------------------
      *
      * Functions tested: