diff --git a/modules/imgproc/src/templmatch.cpp b/modules/imgproc/src/templmatch.cpp
index ad45114372..67845e7429 100644
--- a/modules/imgproc/src/templmatch.cpp
+++ b/modules/imgproc/src/templmatch.cpp
@@ -779,11 +779,9 @@ static void matchTemplateMask( InputArray _img, InputArray _templ, OutputArray _
     }
     if (mask.depth() == CV_8U)
     {
-        Mat mask_copy = mask.clone(); // Create a copy of the mask
-
-        threshold(mask_copy, mask_copy, 0/*threshold*/, 1.0/*maxVal*/, THRESH_BINARY);
-        mask_copy.convertTo(mask_copy, CV_32F);
-
+        Mat maskBin;
+        threshold(mask, maskBin, 0/*threshold*/, 1.0/*maxVal*/, THRESH_BINARY);
+        maskBin.convertTo(mask, CV_32F);
     }
 
     Size corrSize(img.cols - templ.cols + 1, img.rows - templ.rows + 1);