diff --git a/shared/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/konan/Exceptions.kt b/shared/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/konan/Exceptions.kt
index 3b779d3a918..ae5b7c217a5 100644
--- a/shared/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/konan/Exceptions.kt
+++ b/shared/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/konan/Exceptions.kt
@@ -22,7 +22,12 @@ package org.jetbrains.kotlin.konan
 open class KonanException(message: String = "", cause: Throwable? = null) : Exception(message, cause)
 
 /**
- * An error occured during external tool invocation. Such as non-zero exit code. 
+ * An error occurred during external tool invocation. Such as non-zero exit code.
  */
 class KonanExternalToolFailure(message: String, val toolName: String, cause: Throwable? = null) : KonanException(message, cause)
 
+/**
+ * An exception indicating a failed attempt to access some parts of Xcode (e.g. get SDK paths or version).
+ */
+class MissingXcodeException(message: String, cause: Throwable? = null) : KonanException(message, cause)
+
diff --git a/shared/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/konan/target/Xcode.kt b/shared/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/konan/target/Xcode.kt
index 15842206e40..d2508aba603 100644
--- a/shared/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/konan/target/Xcode.kt
+++ b/shared/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/konan/target/Xcode.kt
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@
 
 package org.jetbrains.kotlin.konan.target
 
+import org.jetbrains.kotlin.konan.KonanExternalToolFailure
+import org.jetbrains.kotlin.konan.MissingXcodeException
 import org.jetbrains.kotlin.konan.exec.Command
 import org.jetbrains.kotlin.konan.file.File
 
@@ -69,8 +71,11 @@ private object CurrentXcode : Xcode {
                 .removePrefix("Xcode ")
     }
 
-    private fun xcrun(vararg args: String): String =
-            Command("/usr/bin/xcrun", *args).getOutputLines().first() // TODO: handle execution error
+    private fun xcrun(vararg args: String): String = try {
+            Command("/usr/bin/xcrun", *args).getOutputLines().first()
+        } catch(e: KonanExternalToolFailure) {
+            throw MissingXcodeException("An error occurred during an xcrun execution. Make sure that Xcode and its command line tools are properly installed.", e)
+        }
 
     private fun getSdkPath(sdk: String) = xcrun("--sdk",  sdk, "--show-sdk-path")
 }