diff --git a/src/cmd/flux-module.c b/src/cmd/flux-module.c
index bd7263ec75f6..d022e0d353d2 100644
--- a/src/cmd/flux-module.c
+++ b/src/cmd/flux-module.c
@@ -529,7 +529,10 @@ int cmd_list (optparse_t *p, int argc, char **argv)
     flux_rpc_t *r = NULL;
     flux_t *h;
     int n;
+    zhash_t *mods = zhash_new ();
 
+    if (!mods)
+        oom ();
     if ((n = optparse_option_index (p)) < argc - 1) {
         optparse_print_usage (p);
         exit (1);
@@ -543,9 +546,6 @@ int cmd_list (optparse_t *p, int argc, char **argv)
 
     printf ("%-20s %-7s %-7s %4s  %c  %s\n",
             "Module", "Size", "Digest", "Idle", 'S', "Nodeset");
-    zhash_t *mods = zhash_new ();
-    if (!mods)
-        oom ();
     topic = xasprintf ("%s.lsmod", service);
     if (!(r = flux_rpc_multi (h, topic, NULL, ns, 0)))
         log_err_exit ("%s", topic);