diff --git a/configuration.c b/configuration.c
index 88381025ad..31dcca3d32 100644
--- a/configuration.c
+++ b/configuration.c
@@ -1961,8 +1961,8 @@ bool config_load_override(void)
 {
    char buf[PATH_MAX_LENGTH];
    char config_directory[PATH_MAX_LENGTH];
-   char core_path[PATH_MAX_LENGTH];
-   char game_path[PATH_MAX_LENGTH];
+   char core_path[PATH_MAX_LENGTH]        = {0};
+   char game_path[PATH_MAX_LENGTH]        = {0};
    config_file_t *new_conf                = NULL;
    const char *core_name                  = NULL;
    const char *game_name                  = NULL;
@@ -2140,8 +2140,8 @@ bool config_load_override(void)
 bool config_load_remap(void)
 {
    char remap_directory[PATH_MAX_LENGTH];    /* path to the directory containing retroarch.cfg (prefix)    */
-   char core_path[PATH_MAX_LENGTH];    /* final path for core-specific configuration (prefix+suffix) */
-   char game_path[PATH_MAX_LENGTH];    /* final path for game-specific configuration (prefix+suffix) */
+   char core_path[PATH_MAX_LENGTH]         = {0};    /* final path for core-specific configuration (prefix+suffix) */
+   char game_path[PATH_MAX_LENGTH]         = {0};    /* final path for game-specific configuration (prefix+suffix) */
    config_file_t *new_conf                 = NULL;
    const char *core_name                   = NULL;
    const char *game_name                   = NULL;
diff --git a/input/input_autodetect.c b/input/input_autodetect.c
index 2f14dabd96..878b9a30f0 100644
--- a/input/input_autodetect.c
+++ b/input/input_autodetect.c
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ static bool input_autoconfigure_joypad_from_conf_dir(
       autoconfig_params_t *params)
 {
    size_t i;
-   char path[PATH_MAX_LENGTH];
+   char path[PATH_MAX_LENGTH] = {0};
    int ret                    = 0;
    int index                  = -1;
    int current_best           = 0;
diff --git a/menu/menu_displaylist.c b/menu/menu_displaylist.c
index 563f525a71..cfabf672b9 100644
--- a/menu/menu_displaylist.c
+++ b/menu/menu_displaylist.c
@@ -110,8 +110,8 @@ static void print_buf_lines(file_list_t *list, char *buf, int buf_size,
 
                if (settings)
                {
-                  char core_path[PATH_MAX_LENGTH];
                   char display_name[PATH_MAX_LENGTH];
+                  char core_path[PATH_MAX_LENGTH]    = {0};
                   char *last = NULL;
 
                   fill_pathname_join(
@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@ static void print_buf_lines_extended(file_list_t *list, char *buf, int buf_size,
 
                if (settings)
                {
-                  char core_path[PATH_MAX_LENGTH];
+                  char core_path[PATH_MAX_LENGTH]    = {0};
                   char display_name[PATH_MAX_LENGTH];
                   char *last = NULL;
 
@@ -1590,7 +1590,7 @@ static int menu_displaylist_parse_database_entry(menu_displaylist_info_t *info)
    char path_playlist[PATH_MAX_LENGTH];
    char path_base[PATH_MAX_LENGTH]     = {0};
    char query[PATH_MAX_LENGTH]         = {0};
-   playlist_t *playlist        = NULL;
+   playlist_t *playlist                = NULL;
    database_info_list_t *db_info       = NULL;
    menu_handle_t *menu                 = NULL;
    settings_t *settings                = config_get_ptr();
@@ -2164,7 +2164,8 @@ static int menu_displaylist_parse_horizontal_list(
 {
    menu_ctx_list_t list_info;
    menu_ctx_list_t list_horiz_info;
-   char path_playlist[PATH_MAX_LENGTH], lpl_basename[PATH_MAX_LENGTH];
+   char lpl_basename[PATH_MAX_LENGTH];
+   char path_playlist[PATH_MAX_LENGTH] = {0};
    bool is_historylist                 = false;
    playlist_t *playlist        = NULL;
    menu_handle_t        *menu          = NULL;
@@ -3812,8 +3813,8 @@ bool menu_displaylist_ctl(enum menu_displaylist_ctl_state type, void *data)
          }
          else
          {
-            char path_playlist[PATH_MAX_LENGTH];
-            playlist_t *playlist        = NULL;
+            char path_playlist[PATH_MAX_LENGTH] = {0};
+            playlist_t *playlist                = NULL;
 
             menu_driver_ctl(RARCH_MENU_CTL_PLAYLIST_FREE, NULL);
 
@@ -3935,10 +3936,6 @@ bool menu_displaylist_ctl(enum menu_displaylist_ctl_state type, void *data)
                string_list_new_special(STRING_LIST_SUPPORTED_CORES_NAMES,
                      (void*)menu->deferred_path,
                      &cores_names_len, &cores_names_size);
-            struct string_list *cores_paths = 
-               string_list_new_special(STRING_LIST_SUPPORTED_CORES_PATHS,
-                  (void*)menu->deferred_path,
-                  &cores_paths_len, &cores_paths_size);
 
             if (cores_names_size == 0)
             {
@@ -3949,6 +3946,11 @@ bool menu_displaylist_ctl(enum menu_displaylist_ctl_state type, void *data)
             }
             else
             {
+               struct string_list *cores_paths = 
+                  string_list_new_special(STRING_LIST_SUPPORTED_CORES_PATHS,
+                        (void*)menu->deferred_path,
+                        &cores_paths_len, &cores_paths_size);
+
                for (i = 0; i < cores_names_size; i++)
                {
                   switch (type)
@@ -3968,9 +3970,10 @@ bool menu_displaylist_ctl(enum menu_displaylist_ctl_state type, void *data)
                         cores_names->elems[i].data);
                }
 
-               string_list_free(cores_names);
                string_list_free(cores_paths);
             }
+
+            string_list_free(cores_names);
          }
          break;
       case DISPLAYLIST_CORE_INFO:
diff --git a/menu/menu_shader.c b/menu/menu_shader.c
index 32c5ac11cd..a500977626 100644
--- a/menu/menu_shader.c
+++ b/menu/menu_shader.c
@@ -113,8 +113,9 @@ void menu_shader_manager_init(menu_handle_t *menu)
          break;
       default:
          {
-            char preset_path[PATH_MAX_LENGTH];
-            const char *shader_dir = *settings->directory.video_shader ?
+            char preset_path[PATH_MAX_LENGTH] = {0};
+            const char *shader_dir            = 
+               *settings->directory.video_shader ?
                settings->directory.video_shader : settings->directory.system;
 
             fill_pathname_join(preset_path, shader_dir,
diff --git a/tasks/task_decompress.c b/tasks/task_decompress.c
index 80b97ef0ff..85bc3a3ce3 100644
--- a/tasks/task_decompress.c
+++ b/tasks/task_decompress.c
@@ -57,9 +57,9 @@ static int file_decompressed_subdir(const char *name,
       unsigned cmode, uint32_t csize,uint32_t size,
       uint32_t crc32, void *userdata)
 {
-   char path[PATH_MAX_LENGTH];
    char path_dir[PATH_MAX_LENGTH];
-   decompress_state_t *dec = (decompress_state_t*)userdata;
+   char path[PATH_MAX_LENGTH]      = {0};
+   decompress_state_t         *dec = (decompress_state_t*)userdata;
 
    /* Ignore directories. */
    if (name[strlen(name) - 1] == '/' || name[strlen(name) - 1] == '\\')
@@ -98,8 +98,8 @@ static int file_decompressed(const char *name, const char *valid_exts,
    const uint8_t *cdata, unsigned cmode, uint32_t csize, uint32_t size,
    uint32_t crc32, void *userdata)
 {
-   char path[PATH_MAX_LENGTH];
-   decompress_state_t *dec = (decompress_state_t*)userdata;
+   char path[PATH_MAX_LENGTH] = {0};
+   decompress_state_t    *dec = (decompress_state_t*)userdata;
 
    /* Ignore directories. */
    if (name[strlen(name) - 1] == '/' || name[strlen(name) - 1] == '\\')
diff --git a/tasks/task_screenshot.c b/tasks/task_screenshot.c
index 5b1a0c5cd2..8c1c1050e7 100644
--- a/tasks/task_screenshot.c
+++ b/tasks/task_screenshot.c
@@ -56,8 +56,8 @@
 static bool screenshot_dump(const char *folder, const void *frame,
       unsigned width, unsigned height, int pitch, bool bgr24)
 {
-   char shotname[256];
    char filename[PATH_MAX_LENGTH];
+   char shotname[256]             = {0};
    bool ret                       = false;
    settings_t *settings           = config_get_ptr();
 #if defined(HAVE_ZLIB_DEFLATE) && defined(HAVE_RPNG)