diff --git a/source/org/jivesoftware/smackx/provider/XHTMLExtensionProvider.java b/source/org/jivesoftware/smackx/provider/XHTMLExtensionProvider.java
index 9d8e6c351..f216ef3c8 100644
--- a/source/org/jivesoftware/smackx/provider/XHTMLExtensionProvider.java
+++ b/source/org/jivesoftware/smackx/provider/XHTMLExtensionProvider.java
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ public class XHTMLExtensionProvider implements PacketExtensionProvider {
         throws Exception {
         XHTMLExtension xhtmlExtension = new XHTMLExtension();
         boolean done = false;
-        StringBuffer buffer = null;
+        StringBuffer buffer = new StringBuffer();;
         while (!done) {
             int eventType = parser.next();
             if (eventType == XmlPullParser.START_TAG) {