diff --git a/scripts/kconfig/symbol.c b/scripts/kconfig/symbol.c
index dc5dcf2189a01c33807b1593be13ff4c22c9745f..c0efe102d655c40547afe92014cec1c74b70b3c2 100644
--- a/scripts/kconfig/symbol.c
+++ b/scripts/kconfig/symbol.c
@@ -878,7 +878,7 @@ const char *sym_expand_string_value(const char *in)
 		newlen = strlen(res) + strlen(symval) + strlen(src);
 		if (newlen > reslen) {
 			reslen = newlen;
-			realloc(res, reslen);
+			res = realloc(res, reslen);
 		}
 
 		strcat(res, symval);