diff --git a/src/Tasks/Microsoft.NET.Build.Tasks/ProcessFrameworkReferences.cs b/src/Tasks/Microsoft.NET.Build.Tasks/ProcessFrameworkReferences.cs
index 02d50f672f2f..73a8fc5b4c17 100644
--- a/src/Tasks/Microsoft.NET.Build.Tasks/ProcessFrameworkReferences.cs
+++ b/src/Tasks/Microsoft.NET.Build.Tasks/ProcessFrameworkReferences.cs
@@ -375,7 +375,7 @@ var runtimeRequiredByDeployment
                 }
             }
 
-            if (AotEnabled)
+            if (AotEnabled && _normalizedTargetFrameworkVersion.Major >= 7)
             {
                 switch (AddToolPack(ToolPackType.ILCompiler, _normalizedTargetFrameworkVersion, packagesToDownload, implicitPackageReferences))
                 {
diff --git a/src/Tasks/Microsoft.NET.Build.Tasks/targets/Microsoft.NET.Publish.targets b/src/Tasks/Microsoft.NET.Build.Tasks/targets/Microsoft.NET.Publish.targets
index 13aefbb5ec49..610de805b461 100644
--- a/src/Tasks/Microsoft.NET.Build.Tasks/targets/Microsoft.NET.Publish.targets
+++ b/src/Tasks/Microsoft.NET.Build.Tasks/targets/Microsoft.NET.Publish.targets
@@ -138,6 +138,10 @@ Copyright (c) .NET Foundation. All rights reserved.
                    ResourceName="PublishProfileNotPresent"
                    FormatArguments="$(PublishProfile)"/>
 
+    <!-- If the TFM is valid, ProcessFrameworkReferences task will warn in restore. If we reach here without a ILCompiler pack, its an invalid TFM -->
+    <NETSdkError Condition="'$(PublishAOT)' == 'true' and '@(TargetILCompilerPack)' == '' and '@(HostILCompilerPack)' == ''"
+                 ResourceName="AotUnsupportedTargetFramework" />
+
     <!-- Projects in a solution cannot have conflicting configurations. This checks if PublishRelease conflicted at runtime to avoid extra project evaluations.
     SolutionExt is used to check if we are publishing a solution. Will be undefined if not.-->
     <NETSdkError Condition="'$(_IsPublishing)' == 'true' and