diff --git a/src/conf/virnwfilterobj.c b/src/conf/virnwfilterobj.c
index 5570c72118..6606d3b672 100644
--- a/src/conf/virnwfilterobj.c
+++ b/src/conf/virnwfilterobj.c
@@ -301,7 +301,6 @@ virNWFilterObjAssignDef(virNWFilterObjListPtr nwfilters,
         return NULL;
     }
     virNWFilterObjLock(obj);
-    obj->active = 0;
 
     if (VIR_APPEND_ELEMENT_COPY(nwfilters->objs,
                                 nwfilters->count, obj) < 0) {
diff --git a/src/conf/virnwfilterobj.h b/src/conf/virnwfilterobj.h
index 2adffd9243..7a2addfcd0 100644
--- a/src/conf/virnwfilterobj.h
+++ b/src/conf/virnwfilterobj.h
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@ typedef virNWFilterObj *virNWFilterObjPtr;
 struct _virNWFilterObj {
     virMutex lock;
 
-    int active;
     int wantRemoved;
 
     virNWFilterDefPtr def;