diff --git a/csharp/src/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime/SessionOptions.cs b/csharp/src/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime/SessionOptions.cs
index df7d12ec5e..607f98b77a 100644
--- a/csharp/src/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime/SessionOptions.cs
+++ b/csharp/src/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime/SessionOptions.cs
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ namespace Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime
 
         private static SessionOptions MakeSessionOptionWithCpuProvider()
         {
+            CheckLibcVersionGreaterThanMinimum();
             SessionOptions options = new SessionOptions();
             NativeMethods.OrtSessionOptionsAppendExecutionProvider_CPU(options._nativePtr, 1);
             return options;
@@ -69,6 +70,7 @@ namespace Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime
         /// <returns>A SessionsOptions() object configured for execution on deviceId</returns>
         public static SessionOptions MakeSessionOptionWithCudaProvider(int deviceId=0)
         {
+            CheckLibcVersionGreaterThanMinimum();
             CheckCudaExecutionProviderDLLs();
             SessionOptions options = new SessionOptions();
             NativeMethods.OrtSessionOptionsAppendExecutionProvider_CUDA(options._nativePtr, deviceId);
@@ -103,6 +105,32 @@ namespace Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime
             return true;
         }
 
+        [DllImport("libc", ExactSpelling = true, CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Cdecl)]
+        private static extern IntPtr gnu_get_libc_version();
+
+        private static void CheckLibcVersionGreaterThanMinimum()
+        {
+            // require libc version 2.23 or higher
+            var minVersion = new Version(2, 23);
+            var curVersion = new Version(0, 0);
+            if (RuntimeInformation.IsOSPlatform(OSPlatform.Linux))
+            {
+                try
+                {
+                    curVersion = Version.Parse(Marshal.PtrToStringAnsi(gnu_get_libc_version()));
+                    if (curVersion >= minVersion)
+                        return;
+                }
+                catch (Exception)
+                {
+                    // trap any obscure exception
+                }
+                throw new OnnxRuntimeException(ErrorCode.RuntimeException,
+                        $"libc.so version={curVersion} does not meet the minimun of 2.23 required by OnnxRuntime. " +
+                        "Linux distribution should be similar to Ubuntu 16.04 or higher");
+            }
+        }
+
         #region destructors disposers
 
         ~SessionOptions()