diff --git a/modules/core/CMakeLists.txt b/modules/core/CMakeLists.txt
index c11eec40773f40ac4d57a85dea904a4ecd9ea04c..8f5daf7302a1a3d097adf143df55a77b68c93806 100644
--- a/modules/core/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/modules/core/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -35,6 +35,9 @@ if(DEFINED WINRT AND NOT DEFINED ENABLE_WINRT_MODE_NATIVE)
 endif()
 
 if(HAVE_CUDA)
+  if(NOT TARGET opencv_cudev)
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "CUDA: OpenCV requires enabled 'cudev' module from 'opencv_contrib' repository: https://github.com/opencv/opencv_contrib")
+  endif()
   ocv_warnings_disable(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS -Wundef -Wenum-compare -Wunused-function -Wshadow)
 endif()