--- a/cmake/Dependencies.cmake
+++ b/cmake/Dependencies.cmake
@@ -959,5 +959,7 @@ if(USE_CUDNN)
   if(CUDNN_VERSION VERSION_LESS 8.5)
     message(FATAL_ERROR "PyTorch needs CuDNN-8.5 or above, but found ${CUDNN_VERSION}. Builds are still possible with `USE_CUDNN=0`")
   endif()
-  set(CUDNN_FRONTEND_INCLUDE_DIR ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/../third_party/cudnn_frontend/include)
+  if(NOT CUDNN_FRONTEND_INCLUDE_DIR)
+    set(CUDNN_FRONTEND_INCLUDE_DIR ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/../third_party/cudnn_frontend/include)
+  endif()
   target_include_directories(torch::cudnn INTERFACE ${CUDNN_FRONTEND_INCLUDE_DIR})
 endif()