diff --git a/lib/buffer.js b/lib/buffer.js
index da9354e2d1f9e6..bb4710d3682d34 100644
--- a/lib/buffer.js
+++ b/lib/buffer.js
@@ -252,10 +252,7 @@ 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;