diff --git a/opal/mca/pmix/pmix.h b/opal/mca/pmix/pmix.h
index d179ba0511..f78efa4857 100644
--- a/opal/mca/pmix/pmix.h
+++ b/opal/mca/pmix/pmix.h
@@ -199,6 +199,8 @@ extern int opal_pmix_base_exchange(opal_value_t *info,
             *(sz) = _kv->data.bo.size;                                          \
             _kv->data.bo.bytes = NULL; /* protect the data */                   \
             OBJ_RELEASE(_kv);                                                   \
+        } else {                                                                \
+            *(sz) = 0;                                                          \
         }                                                                       \
     } while(0);
 
diff --git a/orte/orted/pmix/pmix_server_fence.c b/orte/orted/pmix/pmix_server_fence.c
index 7ab0ef73e7..b3b0e33059 100644
--- a/orte/orted/pmix/pmix_server_fence.c
+++ b/orte/orted/pmix/pmix_server_fence.c
@@ -129,8 +129,8 @@ static void dmodex_req(int sd, short args, void *cbdata)
     orte_proc_t *proct, *dmn;
     int rc, rnum;
     opal_buffer_t *buf;
-    uint8_t *data;
-    int32_t sz;
+    uint8_t *data=NULL;
+    int32_t sz=0;
 
     /* a race condition exists here because of the thread-shift - it is
      * possible that data for the specified proc arrived while we were
diff --git a/orte/runtime/orte_globals.c b/orte/runtime/orte_globals.c
index cbfb957ca5..c4efb64987 100644
--- a/orte/runtime/orte_globals.c
+++ b/orte/runtime/orte_globals.c
@@ -465,7 +465,7 @@ orte_vpid_t orte_get_proc_daemon_vpid(orte_process_name_t *proc)
 char* orte_get_proc_hostname(orte_process_name_t *proc)
 {
     orte_proc_t *proct;
-    char *hostname;
+    char *hostname = NULL;
     int rc;
 
     /* don't bother error logging any not-found situations
@@ -507,12 +507,13 @@ orte_node_rank_t orte_get_proc_node_rank(orte_process_name_t *proc)
     }
 
     /* if we are an app, get the value from the modex db */
+    noderank = &nd;
     OPAL_MODEX_RECV_VALUE(rc, OPAL_PMIX_NODE_RANK,
                           (opal_process_name_t*)proc,
                           &noderank, ORTE_NODE_RANK);
-
-    nd = *noderank;
-    free(noderank);
+    if (OPAL_SUCCESS != rc) {
+        nd = ORTE_NODE_RANK_INVALID;
+    }
     return nd;
 }