diff --git a/tensorflow/stream_executor/cuda/cuda_dnn.cc b/tensorflow/stream_executor/cuda/cuda_dnn.cc
index a7ed5cedb4f..174442887f8 100644
--- a/tensorflow/stream_executor/cuda/cuda_dnn.cc
+++ b/tensorflow/stream_executor/cuda/cuda_dnn.cc
@@ -1465,7 +1465,9 @@ class CudnnRnnSequenceTensorDescriptor
   static port::StatusOr<CudnnRnnSequenceTensorDescriptor> Create(
       GpuExecutor* parent, int max_seq_length, int batch_size, int data_size,
       cudnnDataType_t data_type) {
-    CHECK_GT(max_seq_length, 0);
+    if (max_seq_length <= 0) {
+      return port::Status(port::error::INVALID_ARGUMENT, "max_seq_length <= 0");
+    }
     int dims[] = {batch_size, data_size, 1};
     int strides[] = {dims[1] * dims[2], dims[2], 1};
     TensorDescriptor tensor_desc = CreateTensorDescriptor();
@@ -1483,7 +1485,9 @@ class CudnnRnnSequenceTensorDescriptor
       GpuExecutor* parent, int max_seq_length, int batch_size, int data_size,
       const absl::Span<const int>& seq_lengths, bool time_major,
       cudnnDataType_t data_type) {
-    CHECK_GT(max_seq_length, 0);
+    if (max_seq_length <= 0) {
+      return port::Status(port::error::INVALID_ARGUMENT, "max_seq_length <= 0");
+    }
     int dims[] = {batch_size, data_size, 1};
     int strides[] = {dims[1] * dims[2], dims[2], 1};
     TensorDescriptor tensor_desc = CreateTensorDescriptor();