diff --git a/test/unit/lib/nvme/nvme_qpair.c/nvme_qpair_ut.c b/test/unit/lib/nvme/nvme_qpair.c/nvme_qpair_ut.c
index 6217f6443..132468bfc 100644
--- a/test/unit/lib/nvme/nvme_qpair.c/nvme_qpair_ut.c
+++ b/test/unit/lib/nvme/nvme_qpair.c/nvme_qpair_ut.c
@@ -191,6 +191,7 @@ static void test_nvme_qpair_process_completions(void)
 
 	TAILQ_INIT(&ctrlr.active_io_qpairs);
 	TAILQ_INIT(&ctrlr.active_procs);
+	CU_ASSERT(pthread_mutex_init(&ctrlr.ctrlr_lock, NULL) == 0);
 	nvme_qpair_init(&qpair, 1, &ctrlr, 0, 32, false);
 	nvme_qpair_init(&admin_qp, 0, &ctrlr, 0, 32, false);