--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.13)
 project(sdbus-c++ VERSION 0.8.2 LANGUAGES C CXX)
 
 include(GNUInstallDirs) # Installation directories for `install` command and pkgconfig file
+include(CMakeParseArguments)
 
 #-------------------------------
 # PERFORMING CHECKS & PREPARING THE DEPENDENCIES
@@ -23,7 +24,11 @@ if(NOT BUILD_LIBSYSTEMD)
                             "and building libsystemd in as part of sdbus-c++ during configuration)")
     endif()
     add_library(Systemd::Libsystemd ALIAS PkgConfig::Systemd)
-    set(LIBSYSTEMD_VERSION ${Systemd_VERSION})
+    if( Systemd_VERSION MATCHES "^(0|[1-9][0-9]*)([.](0|[1-9][0-9]*))?$" )
+        set( LIBSYSTEMD_VERSION "${CMAKE_MATCH_1}" )
+    else()
+        message( FATAL_ERROR "Couldn't parse libsystemd version" )
+    endif()
 else()
     # Build static libsystemd library as an external project
     include(cmake/LibsystemdExternalProject.cmake)