diff --git a/util/nvmutil/nvmutil.c b/util/nvmutil/nvmutil.c
index f3e6dd76..998c8f96 100644
--- a/util/nvmutil/nvmutil.c
+++ b/util/nvmutil/nvmutil.c
@@ -930,7 +930,9 @@ rhex(void)
 {
 	static size_t n = 0;
 	static uint8_t rnum[12];
+#ifndef NVMUTIL_ARC4RANDOM_BUF
 	int max_retries;
+#endif
 
 #ifdef NVMUTIL_ARC4RANDOM_BUF
 if (!n) {