diff --git a/lib/buffer.js b/lib/buffer.js
index 951805870c5870..d5f5c43971de86 100644
--- a/lib/buffer.js
+++ b/lib/buffer.js
@@ -242,10 +242,7 @@ function _copyActual(source, target, targetStart, sourceStart, sourceEnd) {
     sourceEnd = sourceStart + target.length - targetStart;
 
   let nb = sourceEnd - sourceStart;
-  const targetLen = target.length - targetStart;
   const sourceLen = source.length - sourceStart;
-  if (nb > targetLen)
-    nb = targetLen;
   if (nb > sourceLen)
     nb = sourceLen;