diff --git a/mlir/lib/Dialect/SPIRV/Transforms/LowerABIAttributesPass.cpp b/mlir/lib/Dialect/SPIRV/Transforms/LowerABIAttributesPass.cpp
--- a/mlir/lib/Dialect/SPIRV/Transforms/LowerABIAttributesPass.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/Dialect/SPIRV/Transforms/LowerABIAttributesPass.cpp
@@ -274,7 +274,12 @@
   spirv::ModuleOp module = getOperation();
   MLIRContext *context = &getContext();
 
-  spirv::TargetEnv targetEnv(spirv::lookupTargetEnv(module));
+  spirv::TargetEnvAttr targetEnvAttr = spirv::lookupTargetEnv(module);
+  if (!targetEnvAttr) {
+    module->emitOpError("missing SPIR-V target env attribute");
+    return signalPassFailure();
+  }
+  spirv::TargetEnv targetEnv(targetEnvAttr);
 
   SPIRVTypeConverter typeConverter(targetEnv);
 
diff --git a/mlir/test/Dialect/SPIRV/Transforms/abi-interface.mlir b/mlir/test/Dialect/SPIRV/Transforms/abi-interface.mlir
--- a/mlir/test/Dialect/SPIRV/Transforms/abi-interface.mlir
+++ b/mlir/test/Dialect/SPIRV/Transforms/abi-interface.mlir
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-// RUN: mlir-opt -split-input-file -spirv-lower-abi-attrs %s | FileCheck %s
+// RUN: mlir-opt --split-input-file --spirv-lower-abi-attrs --verify-diagnostics %s \
+// RUN:   | FileCheck %s
 
 module attributes {
   spirv.target_env = #spirv.target_env<
@@ -31,3 +32,10 @@
 } // end spirv.module
 
 } // end module
+
+// -----
+
+module {
+// expected-error@+1 {{'spirv.module' op missing SPIR-V target env attribute}}
+spirv.module Logical GLSL450 {}
+} // end module