diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 9531149ef5..5a6f71ff69 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ Increment the:
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+* [BUILD] Fix opentelemetry-proto file exists check [#1824](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-cpp/pull/1824)
+
 ## [1.8.0] 2022-11-27
 
 * [DOC] Update Metrics status in README.md [#1722](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-cpp/pull/1722)
diff --git a/cmake/opentelemetry-proto.cmake b/cmake/opentelemetry-proto.cmake
index 47f57a65ba..a21c0f16cf 100644
--- a/cmake/opentelemetry-proto.cmake
+++ b/cmake/opentelemetry-proto.cmake
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 #
 
 if(OTELCPP_PROTO_PATH)
-  if(NOT EXISTS(${OTELCPP_PROTO_PATH}/opentelemetry/proto/common/v1/common.proto))
+  if(NOT EXISTS "${OTELCPP_PROTO_PATH}/opentelemetry/proto/common/v1/common.proto")
     message(FATAL_ERROR "OTELCPP_PROTO_PATH does not point to a opentelemetry-proto repository")
   endif()
   message(STATUS "opentelemetry-proto dependency satisfied by: external path")