diff --git a/app/models/commit_range.rb b/app/models/commit_range.rb
index b8bf36b32ceba0be03abd04413c2256affee1aba..14e7971fa066175d79e5cdff056158ce5687698e 100644
--- a/app/models/commit_range.rb
+++ b/app/models/commit_range.rb
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ class CommitRange
 
   def to_reference(from_project = nil)
     if cross_project_reference?(from_project)
-      reference = project.to_reference + self.class.reference_prefix + self.id
+      project.to_reference + self.class.reference_prefix + self.id
     else
       self.id
     end
diff --git a/spec/lib/gitlab/markdown/commit_reference_filter_spec.rb b/spec/lib/gitlab/markdown/commit_reference_filter_spec.rb
index 78a3603269cf7c2ae22fa8f5799528c250a6c869..462a41b47562958a43497a0aa289da384dee2ec4 100644
--- a/spec/lib/gitlab/markdown/commit_reference_filter_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/gitlab/markdown/commit_reference_filter_spec.rb
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ module Gitlab::Markdown
       end
 
       it 'ignores invalid commit IDs on the referenced project' do
-        exp = act = "Committed #{invalidate_reference(reference)}"
+        act = "Committed #{invalidate_reference(reference)}"
         expect(reference_filter(act).to_html).to match(/<a.+>#{Regexp.escape(invalidate_reference(reference))}<\/a>/)
       end
 
diff --git a/spec/lib/gitlab/markdown/snippet_reference_filter_spec.rb b/spec/lib/gitlab/markdown/snippet_reference_filter_spec.rb
index b6f05710c3b659fbc8433ca8a2993e97512d0aac..3a9acc9d6d4b6598b79910d9d72e415883232369 100644
--- a/spec/lib/gitlab/markdown/snippet_reference_filter_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/gitlab/markdown/snippet_reference_filter_spec.rb
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ module Gitlab::Markdown
       end
 
       it 'ignores invalid snippet IDs on the referenced project' do
-        exp = act = "See #{invalidate_reference(reference)}"
+        act = "See #{invalidate_reference(reference)}"
 
         expect(reference_filter(act).to_html).to match(/<a.+>#{Regexp.escape(invalidate_reference(reference))}<\/a>/)
       end