diff --git a/cmake_targets/CMakeLists.txt b/cmake_targets/CMakeLists.txt
index 81ea1980dc7f2fe7bd4cb2064d6c09a3b185d86b..e4d3acf4b1c976540a95e6cbd033bfa26b9d9ecd 100644
--- a/cmake_targets/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/cmake_targets/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1664,6 +1664,18 @@ endif()
 
 message ("NETTLE VERSION_INSTALLED  = ${NETTLE_VERSION}")
 
+string(REGEX REPLACE "([0-9]+).*" "\\1" NETTLE_VERSION_MAJOR ${NETTLE_VERSION})
+string(REGEX REPLACE "[0-9]+\\.([0-9]+).*" "\\1" NETTLE_VERSION_MINOR ${NETTLE_VERSION})
+message ("NETTLE_VERSION_MAJOR = ${NETTLE_VERSION_MAJOR}")
+message ("NETTLE_VERSION_MINOR = ${NETTLE_VERSION_MINOR}")
+
+if ("${NETTLE_VERSION_MAJOR}" STREQUAL "" OR "${NETTLE_VERSION_MINOR}" STREQUAL "")
+  message( FATAL_ERROR "The nettle version not detected properly. Try to run build_oai -I again" )
+endif()
+
+add_definitions("-DNETTLE_VERSION_MAJOR=${NETTLE_VERSION_MAJOR}")
+add_definitions("-DNETTLE_VERSION_MINOR=${NETTLE_VERSION_MINOR}")
+
 pkg_search_module(XPM xpm)
 if(NOT ${XPM_FOUND})
   message("PACKAGE xpm not found: some targets will fail")
diff --git a/openair2/UTIL/OSA/osa_stream_eea.c b/openair2/UTIL/OSA/osa_stream_eea.c
index 9e8a3a88b3777f5a0a8fd95ee06f82009883097d..6aef6d2588ad26d22d15f44da7dbe7ab29dd7935 100644
--- a/openair2/UTIL/OSA/osa_stream_eea.c
+++ b/openair2/UTIL/OSA/osa_stream_eea.c
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@
 #include <nettle/nettle-meta.h>
 #include <nettle/aes.h>
 #include <nettle/ctr.h>
-#include <nettle/bignum.h>
 
 #include "UTIL/LOG/log.h"
 
@@ -192,7 +191,7 @@ int stream_encrypt_eea2(stream_cipher_t *stream_cipher, uint8_t **out)
   }
 #endif
 
-#if !defined(NETTLE_VERSION_MAJOR) || NETTLE_VERSION_MAJOR < 3
+#if NETTLE_VERSION_MAJOR < 3
   nettle_aes128.set_encrypt_key(ctx, stream_cipher->key_length,
                                 stream_cipher->key);
 #else
diff --git a/openair3/SECU/nas_stream_eea2.c b/openair3/SECU/nas_stream_eea2.c
index e9f2e7c41a650e3767bb4f8ba4b022cc9110c036..37f2e298fb2ff710ea515af1df434b8c45db6de0 100644
--- a/openair3/SECU/nas_stream_eea2.c
+++ b/openair3/SECU/nas_stream_eea2.c
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@
 #include <nettle/nettle-meta.h>
 #include <nettle/aes.h>
 #include <nettle/ctr.h>
-#include <nettle/bignum.h>
 
 #include "assertions.h"
 #include "conversions.h"
@@ -79,7 +78,7 @@ int nas_stream_encrypt_eea2(nas_stream_cipher_t *stream_cipher, uint8_t *out)
   }
 #endif
 
-#if !defined(NETTLE_VERSION_MAJOR) || NETTLE_VERSION_MAJOR < 3
+#if NETTLE_VERSION_MAJOR < 3
   nettle_aes128.set_encrypt_key(ctx, stream_cipher->key_length,
                                 stream_cipher->key);
 #else
diff --git a/openair3/TEST/test_aes128_ctr_decrypt.c b/openair3/TEST/test_aes128_ctr_decrypt.c
index 98987a8d97bb88e423c73c972247bb077ed8f15f..a30dc6c2f21c0d775cdf23775d4df44002265e01 100644
--- a/openair3/TEST/test_aes128_ctr_decrypt.c
+++ b/openair3/TEST/test_aes128_ctr_decrypt.c
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@
 #include <nettle/nettle-meta.h>
 #include <nettle/aes.h>
 #include <nettle/ctr.h>
-#include <nettle/bignum.h>
 
 static
 void test_uncipher_ctr(const struct nettle_cipher *cipher, const uint8_t *key,
@@ -42,7 +41,7 @@ void test_uncipher_ctr(const struct nettle_cipher *cipher, const uint8_t *key,
   uint8_t *data = malloc(length);
   uint8_t *ctr = malloc(cipher->block_size);
 
-#if !defined(NETTLE_VERSION_MAJOR) || NETTLE_VERSION_MAJOR < 3
+#if NETTLE_VERSION_MAJOR < 3
   cipher->set_encrypt_key(ctx, key_length,  key);
 #else
   cipher->set_encrypt_key(ctx,  key);