diff --git a/modules/imgproc/src/histogram.cpp b/modules/imgproc/src/histogram.cpp
index e7e03ceeb2875b15480b55bd3ef9c7772a9b486f..87b15fa06b55f2416bd20622805b942473e4f8a7 100644
--- a/modules/imgproc/src/histogram.cpp
+++ b/modules/imgproc/src/histogram.cpp
@@ -3436,8 +3436,13 @@ static bool ocl_equalizeHist(InputArray _src, OutputArray _dst)
         return false;
 
     UMat lut(1, 256, CV_8UC1);
-    ocl::Kernel k("calcLUT", ocl::imgproc::histogram_oclsrc, format("-D BINS=%d -D HISTS_COUNT=1 -D WGS=%d", BINS, (int)wgs));
-    k.args(ocl::KernelArg::PtrWriteOnly(lut), ocl::KernelArg::PtrReadOnly(hist), (int)_src.total());
+    ocl::Kernel k("calcLUT", ocl::imgproc::histogram_oclsrc,
+                  format("-D BINS=%d -D HISTS_COUNT=1 -D WGS=%d", BINS, (int)wgs));
+    if (k.empty())
+        return false;
+
+    k.args(ocl::KernelArg::PtrWriteOnly(lut),
+           ocl::KernelArg::PtrReadOnly(hist), (int)_src.total());
 
     // calculation of LUT
     if (!k.run(1, &wgs, &wgs, false))