diff --git a/lib/buffer.js b/lib/buffer.js
index 54096aa99410c1..f45fe2dad954d2 100644
--- a/lib/buffer.js
+++ b/lib/buffer.js
@@ -65,8 +65,15 @@ const zeroFill = bindingObj.zeroFill || [0];
 
 function createBuffer(size, noZeroFill) {
   if (noZeroFill)
-    zeroFill[0] = 0;  // Reset by the runtime.
-  const ui8 = new Uint8Array(size);
+    zeroFill[0] = 0;
+
+  try {
+    var ui8 = new Uint8Array(size);
+  } finally {
+    if (noZeroFill)
+      zeroFill[0] = 1;
+  }
+
   Object.setPrototypeOf(ui8, Buffer.prototype);
   return ui8;
 }
diff --git a/src/node.cc b/src/node.cc
index 3c508183c922d8..10d67a02fc92e2 100644
--- a/src/node.cc
+++ b/src/node.cc
@@ -973,8 +973,8 @@ Local<Value> WinapiErrnoException(Isolate* isolate,
 void* ArrayBufferAllocator::Allocate(size_t size) {
   if (zero_fill_field_ || zero_fill_all_buffers)
     return calloc(size, 1);
-  zero_fill_field_ = 1;
-  return malloc(size);
+  else
+    return malloc(size);
 }
 
 static bool DomainHasErrorHandler(const Environment* env,