diff --git a/plugins/kapt3/kapt3-base/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/kapt3/base/Kapt.kt b/plugins/kapt3/kapt3-base/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/kapt3/base/Kapt.kt
index 140e3818f06..35642c8094d 100644
--- a/plugins/kapt3/kapt3-base/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/kapt3/base/Kapt.kt
+++ b/plugins/kapt3/kapt3-base/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/kapt3/base/Kapt.kt
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import org.jetbrains.kotlin.base.kapt3.*
 import org.jetbrains.kotlin.kapt3.base.util.KaptLogger
 import org.jetbrains.kotlin.kapt3.base.util.WriterBackedKaptLogger
 import org.jetbrains.kotlin.kapt3.base.util.info
+import org.jetbrains.kotlin.kapt3.util.doOpenInternalPackagesIfRequired
 import kotlin.system.measureTimeMillis
 
 object Kapt {
@@ -24,6 +25,7 @@ object Kapt {
     @JvmStatic
     @Suppress("unused")
     fun kapt(options: KaptOptions): Boolean {
+        doOpenInternalPackagesIfRequired()
         val logger = WriterBackedKaptLogger(options[KaptFlag.VERBOSE])
 
         if (!Kapt.checkJavacComponentsAccess(logger)) {
diff --git a/plugins/kapt3/kapt3-base/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/kapt3/base/util/moduleManipulationUtils.kt b/plugins/kapt3/kapt3-base/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/kapt3/base/util/moduleManipulationUtils.kt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..dc9f24be2a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/kapt3/kapt3-base/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/kapt3/base/util/moduleManipulationUtils.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2010-2021 JetBrains s.r.o. and Kotlin Programming Language contributors.
+ * Use of this source code is governed by the Apache 2.0 license that can be found in the license/LICENSE.txt file.
+ */
+
+package org.jetbrains.kotlin.kapt3.util
+
+import sun.misc.Unsafe
+import java.lang.Exception
+import java.lang.invoke.MethodHandles
+import java.lang.reflect.Method
+import java.lang.reflect.Modifier
+
+val REQUIRED_PACKAGES_TO_TEST_CLASSES = mapOf(
+    "com.sun.tools.javac.util" to "Context",
+    "com.sun.tools.javac.file" to "CacheFSInfo",
+    "com.sun.tools.javac.tree" to "TreeTranslator",
+    "com.sun.tools.javac.main" to "CommandLine",
+    "com.sun.tools.javac.jvm" to "ClassFile",
+    "com.sun.tools.javac.parser" to "Tokens\$TokenKind",
+    "com.sun.tools.javac.code" to "Source",
+    "com.sun.tools.javac.processing" to "PrintingProcessor",
+    "com.sun.tools.javac.comp" to "AttrContext",
+    "com.sun.tools.javac.api" to "DiagnosticFormatter\$PositionKind"
+)
+
+private fun openPackages(packagesToOpen: Collection<String>) {
+    @Suppress("UNCHECKED_CAST")
+    fun allModules(): Collection<Any>? {
+        // Actually it is similar to ModuleLayer.boot().modules()
+        try {
+            val boot = Class.forName("java.lang.ModuleLayer").getMethod("boot").invoke(null) ?: return null
+            return boot.javaClass.getMethod("modules").invoke(boot) as? Collection<Any>
+        } catch (_: Exception) {
+        }
+        return null
+    }
+
+    @Suppress("UNCHECKED_CAST")
+    fun getPackages(module: Any) =
+        // similar to module.packages
+        module.javaClass.getMethod("getPackages").invoke(module) as Collection<String>
+    val modules = allModules() ?: return
+    val unsafe = Unsafe::class.java.getDeclaredField("theUnsafe").apply {
+        isAccessible = true
+    }.get(null) as Unsafe
+    val implLookupField = MethodHandles.Lookup::class.java.getDeclaredField("IMPL_LOOKUP")
+    val lookup =
+        unsafe.getObject(
+            unsafe.staticFieldBase(implLookupField),
+            unsafe.staticFieldOffset(implLookupField)
+        ) as MethodHandles.Lookup
+    val modifiers = lookup.findSetter(Method::class.java, "modifiers", Integer.TYPE)
+
+    val exportMethod: Method = Class.forName("java.lang.Module").getDeclaredMethod("implAddOpens", String::class.java)
+    modifiers.invokeExact(exportMethod, Modifier.PUBLIC)
+
+    modules.forEach { module ->
+        getPackages(module).filter { packagesToOpen.contains(it) }.forEach { name ->
+            exportMethod.invoke(module, name)
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+private fun unavailableRequiredPackages() = REQUIRED_PACKAGES_TO_TEST_CLASSES.filter { entry ->
+    try {
+        val classInstance = Class.forName("${entry.key}.${entry.value}")
+        if (classInstance.isEnum) {
+            classInstance.getMethod("values").invoke(null)
+        } else {
+            classInstance.getDeclaredConstructor().newInstance()
+        }
+        false
+    } catch (_: IllegalAccessException) {
+        true
+    } catch (_: Exception) {
+        // in old versions of JDK some classes could be unavailable
+        false
+    }
+}.keys
+
+private var checkDone = false
+
+@Synchronized
+fun doOpenInternalPackagesIfRequired() {
+    if (checkDone)
+        return
+    try {
+        checkDone = true
+        val unavailablePackages = unavailableRequiredPackages()
+        if (unavailablePackages.isNotEmpty()) {
+            openPackages(unavailablePackages)
+            val failedToOpen = unavailableRequiredPackages()
+            if (failedToOpen.isNotEmpty()) {
+                System.err.println(
+                    "WARNING: Some required internal classes are unavailable. Please consider adding the following JVM arguments\n" +
+                            "WARNING: ${failedToOpen.joinToString(" ") { "--add-opens jdk.compiler/$it=ALL-UNNAMED" }}"
+                )
+            }
+        }
+    } catch (e: Throwable) {
+        System.err.println("WARNING: Failed to check for unavailable JDK packages. Reason: ${e.message}")
+    }
+}
diff --git a/plugins/kapt3/kapt3-compiler/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/kapt3/Kapt3Plugin.kt b/plugins/kapt3/kapt3-compiler/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/kapt3/Kapt3Plugin.kt
index 927aa1fd4f1..2eac0d65449 100644
--- a/plugins/kapt3/kapt3-compiler/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/kapt3/Kapt3Plugin.kt
+++ b/plugins/kapt3/kapt3-compiler/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/kapt3/Kapt3Plugin.kt
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ import org.jetbrains.kotlin.kapt.cli.KaptCliOption.*
 import org.jetbrains.kotlin.kapt3.base.Kapt
 import org.jetbrains.kotlin.kapt3.base.util.KaptLogger
 import org.jetbrains.kotlin.kapt3.util.MessageCollectorBackedKaptLogger
+import org.jetbrains.kotlin.kapt3.util.doOpenInternalPackagesIfRequired
 import org.jetbrains.kotlin.psi.KtFile
 import org.jetbrains.kotlin.resolve.BindingTrace
 import org.jetbrains.kotlin.platform.TargetPlatform
@@ -62,6 +63,7 @@ class Kapt3CommandLineProcessor : CommandLineProcessor {
     override val pluginOptions: Collection<AbstractCliOption> = values().asList()
 
     override fun processOption(option: AbstractCliOption, value: String, configuration: CompilerConfiguration) {
+        doOpenInternalPackagesIfRequired()
         if (option !is KaptCliOption) {
             throw CliOptionProcessingException("Unknown option: ${option.optionName}")
         }
@@ -158,6 +160,7 @@ class Kapt3CommandLineProcessor : CommandLineProcessor {
 
 class Kapt3ComponentRegistrar : ComponentRegistrar {
     override fun registerProjectComponents(project: MockProject, configuration: CompilerConfiguration) {
+        doOpenInternalPackagesIfRequired()
         val contentRoots = configuration[CLIConfigurationKeys.CONTENT_ROOTS] ?: emptyList()
 
         val optionsBuilder = (configuration[KAPT_OPTIONS] ?: KaptOptions.Builder()).apply {