diff --git a/drivers/char/ipmi/ipmi_msghandler.c b/drivers/char/ipmi/ipmi_msghandler.c
index 555c3b1e4926..8774a3b8ff95 100644
--- a/drivers/char/ipmi/ipmi_msghandler.c
+++ b/drivers/char/ipmi/ipmi_msghandler.c
@@ -319,7 +319,7 @@ struct bmc_device {
 	int                    dyn_guid_set;
 	struct kref	       usecount;
 	struct work_struct     remove_work;
-	char		       cc; /* completion code */
+	unsigned char	       cc; /* completion code */
 };
 #define to_bmc_device(x) container_of((x), struct bmc_device, pdev.dev)
 
diff --git a/drivers/char/ipmi/ipmi_si_intf.c b/drivers/char/ipmi/ipmi_si_intf.c
index 164f85007080..0b3dbc7e39fd 100644
--- a/drivers/char/ipmi/ipmi_si_intf.c
+++ b/drivers/char/ipmi/ipmi_si_intf.c
@@ -1344,7 +1344,7 @@ static int try_get_dev_id(struct smi_info *smi_info)
 			resp + 2, resp_len - 2, &smi_info->device_id);
 	if (rv) {
 		/* record completion code */
-		char cc = *(resp + 2);
+		unsigned char cc = *(resp + 2);
 
 		if ((cc == IPMI_DEVICE_IN_FW_UPDATE_ERR
 		    || cc == IPMI_DEVICE_IN_INIT_ERR