diff --git a/openerp/addons/base/res/res_users.py b/openerp/addons/base/res/res_users.py
index 55e251b9af0..1c3dda89878 100644
--- a/openerp/addons/base/res/res_users.py
+++ b/openerp/addons/base/res/res_users.py
@@ -222,7 +222,7 @@ class users(osv.osv):
         return self.write(cr, uid, [id], {'avatar_stored': value}, context=context)
     
     def _avatar_resize(self, cr, uid, avatar, context=None):
-        image_stream = io.BytesIO(avatar.decode('base64'))
+        image_stream = io.BytesIO(avatar_stored.decode('base64'))
         img = Image.open(image_stream)
         img.thumbnail((180, 150), Image.ANTIALIAS)
         img_stream = StringIO.StringIO()