diff --git a/cmake_targets/CMakeLists.txt b/cmake_targets/CMakeLists.txt
index 81ddf3750309b94118758a5e037a29698af7906e..4f40486801b873e1da368702621886e7cdc99f4f 100644
--- a/cmake_targets/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/cmake_targets/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1669,18 +1669,6 @@ 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 6aef6d2588ad26d22d15f44da7dbe7ab29dd7935..9e8a3a88b3777f5a0a8fd95ee06f82009883097d 100644
--- a/openair2/UTIL/OSA/osa_stream_eea.c
+++ b/openair2/UTIL/OSA/osa_stream_eea.c
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 #include <nettle/nettle-meta.h>
 #include <nettle/aes.h>
 #include <nettle/ctr.h>
+#include <nettle/bignum.h>
 
 #include "UTIL/LOG/log.h"
 
@@ -191,7 +192,7 @@ int stream_encrypt_eea2(stream_cipher_t *stream_cipher, uint8_t **out)
   }
 #endif
 
-#if NETTLE_VERSION_MAJOR < 3
+#if !defined(NETTLE_VERSION_MAJOR) || 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 37f2e298fb2ff710ea515af1df434b8c45db6de0..e9f2e7c41a650e3767bb4f8ba4b022cc9110c036 100644
--- a/openair3/SECU/nas_stream_eea2.c
+++ b/openair3/SECU/nas_stream_eea2.c
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 #include <nettle/nettle-meta.h>
 #include <nettle/aes.h>
 #include <nettle/ctr.h>
+#include <nettle/bignum.h>
 
 #include "assertions.h"
 #include "conversions.h"
@@ -78,7 +79,7 @@ int nas_stream_encrypt_eea2(nas_stream_cipher_t *stream_cipher, uint8_t *out)
   }
 #endif
 
-#if NETTLE_VERSION_MAJOR < 3
+#if !defined(NETTLE_VERSION_MAJOR) || 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 a30dc6c2f21c0d775cdf23775d4df44002265e01..98987a8d97bb88e423c73c972247bb077ed8f15f 100644
--- a/openair3/TEST/test_aes128_ctr_decrypt.c
+++ b/openair3/TEST/test_aes128_ctr_decrypt.c
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 #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,
@@ -41,7 +42,7 @@ 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 NETTLE_VERSION_MAJOR < 3
+#if !defined(NETTLE_VERSION_MAJOR) || NETTLE_VERSION_MAJOR < 3
   cipher->set_encrypt_key(ctx, key_length,  key);
 #else
   cipher->set_encrypt_key(ctx,  key);