diff --git a/meta/recipes-connectivity/openssl/openssl_3.1.1.bb b/meta/recipes-connectivity/openssl/openssl_3.1.1.bb
index f5f3f32a97..b849f9ca79 100644
--- a/meta/recipes-connectivity/openssl/openssl_3.1.1.bb
+++ b/meta/recipes-connectivity/openssl/openssl_3.1.1.bb
@@ -137,7 +137,9 @@ do_configure () {
 	fi
 	# WARNING: do not set compiler/linker flags (-I/-D etc.) in EXTRA_OECONF, as they will fully replace the
 	# environment variables set by bitbake. Adjust the environment variables instead.
-	HASHBANGPERL="/usr/bin/env perl" PERL=perl PERL5LIB="${S}/external/perl/Text-Template-1.46/lib/" \
+	PERLEXTERNAL="${S}/external/perl/Text-Template-1.46/lib"
+	test -d "$PERLEXTERNAL" || bberror "PERLEXTERNAL '$PERLEXTERNAL' not found!"
+	HASHBANGPERL="/usr/bin/env perl" PERL=perl PERL5LIB="$PERLEXTERNAL" \
 	perl ${S}/Configure ${EXTRA_OECONF} ${PACKAGECONFIG_CONFARGS} ${DEPRECATED_CRYPTO_FLAGS} --prefix=$useprefix --openssldir=${libdir}/ssl-3 --libdir=${libdir} $target
 	perl ${B}/configdata.pm --dump
 }