diff --git a/dune/solvers/iterationsteps/iterationstep.hh b/dune/solvers/iterationsteps/iterationstep.hh
index 592838e443a734d688f1810052b6b8a5be20849d..d2ce942d5dee3706842a48574ab35ed6920aa00a 100644
--- a/dune/solvers/iterationsteps/iterationstep.hh
+++ b/dune/solvers/iterationsteps/iterationstep.hh
@@ -19,8 +19,9 @@ class IterationStep : virtual public NumProc, public CanIgnore<BitVectorType>
         typedef BitVectorType BitVector;
 
         //! Default constructor
-        IterationStep()
-        {}
+        IterationStep() {
+          x_ = nullptr;
+        }
 
         /** \brief Destructor */
         virtual ~IterationStep() {}
diff --git a/dune/solvers/iterationsteps/lineariterationstep.hh b/dune/solvers/iterationsteps/lineariterationstep.hh
index 41a8ea4537fe9c75443c993c71cb373c49e9b05a..e198b7cfd6c51dae55ecb57d001a1975fdaeb0b0 100644
--- a/dune/solvers/iterationsteps/lineariterationstep.hh
+++ b/dune/solvers/iterationsteps/lineariterationstep.hh
@@ -24,7 +24,9 @@ class LinearIterationStep : public IterationStep<VectorType, BitVectorType>,
 public:
 
     //! Default constructor
-    LinearIterationStep() {}
+    LinearIterationStep() {
+        rhs_ = nullptr;
+    }
 
     /** \brief Destructor */
     virtual ~LinearIterationStep() {}