diff --git a/utils/generate-cyclonedx b/utils/generate-cyclonedx
index 7cfeefbc5b..11edc05d80 100755
--- a/utils/generate-cyclonedx
+++ b/utils/generate-cyclonedx
@@ -52,7 +52,12 @@ if not SPDX_SCHEMA_PATH.exists():
 
     # Download the CycloneDX SPDX schema JSON, and cache it locally
     cyclonedxpath.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
-    urllib.request.urlretrieve(SPDX_SCHEMA_URL, SPDX_SCHEMA_PATH)
+    try:
+        urllib.request.urlretrieve(SPDX_SCHEMA_URL, SPDX_SCHEMA_PATH)
+    except urllib.error.URLError as e:
+        if "CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED" in str(e.reason):
+            raise Exception("Couldn't verify certificate. Try enabling BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_CA_CERTIFICATES.")
+        raise e
 
 try:
     with SPDX_SCHEMA_PATH.open() as f: