diff --git a/imap/httpd.c b/imap/httpd.c
index 81ba699..8035033 100644
--- a/imap/httpd.c
+++ b/imap/httpd.c
@@ -129,6 +129,10 @@ static SSL *tls_conn;
 
 sasl_conn_t *httpd_saslconn; /* the sasl connection context */
 
+#ifdef SASL_HTTP_REQUEST
+sasl_http_request_t sasl_http_req;
+#endif /* SASL_HTTP_REQUEST */
+
 static struct wildmat *allow_cors = NULL;
 int httpd_timeout, httpd_keepalive;
 char *httpd_userid = NULL;
@@ -2988,8 +2992,6 @@ static int http_auth(const char *creds, struct transaction_t *txn)
 #ifdef SASL_HTTP_REQUEST
     /* Setup SASL HTTP request, if necessary */
     if (scheme->flags & AUTH_NEED_REQUEST) {
-        sasl_http_request_t sasl_http_req;
-
         sasl_http_req.method = txn->req_line.meth;
         sasl_http_req.uri = txn->req_line.uri;
         sasl_http_req.entity = NULL;