diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 4ff6ce4b5b..bd30a00f8e 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1817,16 +1817,22 @@ endif()
 # Enable the workaround for all compilers, to make it available when using GCC
 # to consume libcurl, regardless of the compiler used to build libcurl itself.
 if(USE_OPENSSL AND TARGET OpenSSL::Crypto)
-  add_library(CURL::OpenSSL_Crypto INTERFACE IMPORTED)
-  get_target_property(_curl_libname OpenSSL::Crypto LOCATION)
-  set_target_properties(CURL::OpenSSL_Crypto PROPERTIES INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES "${_curl_libname}")
-  list(APPEND CURL_LIBS CURL::OpenSSL_Crypto)
+  get_target_property(_curl_imported OpenSSL::Crypto IMPORTED)
+  if(_curl_imported)
+    add_library(CURL::OpenSSL_Crypto INTERFACE IMPORTED)
+    get_target_property(_curl_libname OpenSSL::Crypto LOCATION)
+    set_target_properties(CURL::OpenSSL_Crypto PROPERTIES INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES "${_curl_libname}")
+    list(APPEND CURL_LIBS CURL::OpenSSL_Crypto)
+  endif()
 endif()
 if(HAVE_LIBZ AND TARGET ZLIB::ZLIB)
-  add_library(CURL::ZLIB INTERFACE IMPORTED)
-  get_target_property(_curl_libname ZLIB::ZLIB LOCATION)
-  set_target_properties(CURL::ZLIB PROPERTIES INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES "${_curl_libname}")
-  list(APPEND CURL_LIBS CURL::ZLIB)
+  get_target_property(_curl_imported ZLIB::ZLIB IMPORTED)
+  if(_curl_imported)
+    add_library(CURL::ZLIB INTERFACE IMPORTED)
+    get_target_property(_curl_libname ZLIB::ZLIB LOCATION)
+    set_target_properties(CURL::ZLIB PROPERTIES INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES "${_curl_libname}")
+    list(APPEND CURL_LIBS CURL::ZLIB)
+  endif()
 endif()
 if(WIN32)
   add_library(CURL::win32_winsock INTERFACE IMPORTED)