diff --git a/libpwdgrp/shadow.c b/libpwdgrp/shadow.c
index 3a9c4b8d4..ed0ef0131 100644
--- a/libpwdgrp/shadow.c
+++ b/libpwdgrp/shadow.c
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ void setspent(void)
 	if (shadow) {
 		rewind(shadow);
 	} else {
-		shadow == bb_xfopen(SHADOW_FILE, "r");
+		shadow = bb_xfopen(SHADOW_FILE, "r");
 	}
 }