diff --git a/debian/patches/15_check_smtp_initialize b/debian/patches/15_check_smtp_initialize
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..780c40b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/patches/15_check_smtp_initialize
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+From 8520c643dd35bbeebbf36c7145d3f8c12dfaf70b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: Iustin Pop <iustin@debian.org>
+Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2019 22:52:54 +0100
+Subject: [PATCH] Simply initializes n before it is used
+
+When SSL is enabled, n is assigned the size of the server's second EHLO
+response (I think in bytes), which will usually be significantly higher
+than the command passed. As such, no commands are executed and no responses
+are checked, which - silently - defeats the desired checks and results in a
+success value.
+---
+ plugins/check_smtp.c | 1 +
+ 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)
+
+diff --git a/plugins/check_smtp.c b/plugins/check_smtp.c
+index 0fcf4c68..d37c57c8 100644
+--- a/plugins/check_smtp.c
++++ b/plugins/check_smtp.c
+@@ -293,6 +293,7 @@ main (int argc, char **argv)
+ 		    printf("%s", buffer);
+ 		}
+ 
++		n = 0;
+ 		while (n < ncommands) {
+ 			xasprintf (&cmd_str, "%s%s", commands[n], "\r\n");
+ 			my_send(cmd_str, strlen(cmd_str));
diff --git a/debian/patches/series b/debian/patches/series
index 1b24d63..9d505c6 100644
--- a/debian/patches/series
+++ b/debian/patches/series
@@ -5,3 +5,4 @@
 12_check_apt_only_crit
 13_check_apt_list_packages
 14_mariadb
+15_check_smtp_initialize