diff --git a/src/lib/functions/synchronous.js b/src/lib/functions/synchronous.js
index 5ad5e240ff2..07fccbf83e6 100644
--- a/src/lib/functions/synchronous.js
+++ b/src/lib/functions/synchronous.js
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ const { Buffer } = require('buffer')
 
 const { NETLIFYDEVERR } = require('../../utils/logo')
 
+const { detectAwsSdkError } = require('./utils')
+
 const addHeaders = (headers, response) => {
   if (!headers) {
     return
@@ -36,6 +38,8 @@ const handleSynchronousFunction = function (err, result, response) {
 const formatLambdaLocalError = (err) => `${err.errorType}: ${err.errorMessage}\n  ${err.stackTrace.join('\n  ')}`
 
 const handleErr = function (err, response) {
+  detectAwsSdkError({ err })
+
   response.statusCode = 500
   const errorString = typeof err === 'string' ? err : formatLambdaLocalError(err)
   response.end(errorString)
diff --git a/src/lib/functions/utils.js b/src/lib/functions/utils.js
index c5e09d84f12..39d4e842372 100644
--- a/src/lib/functions/utils.js
+++ b/src/lib/functions/utils.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 const chalk = require('chalk')
 
+const { warn } = require('../../utils/command-helpers')
 const { getLogMessage } = require('../log')
 
 const BASE_64_MIME_REGEXP = /image|audio|video|application\/pdf|application\/zip|applicaton\/octet-stream/i
@@ -10,8 +11,8 @@ const DEFAULT_LAMBDA_OPTIONS = {
 
 const SECONDS_TO_MILLISECONDS = 1000
 
-const detectAwsSdkError = ({ error, warn }) => {
-  const isAwsSdkError = error.errorMessage && error.errorMessage.includes("Cannot find module 'aws-sdk'")
+const detectAwsSdkError = ({ error }) => {
+  const isAwsSdkError = error && error.errorMessage && error.errorMessage.includes("Cannot find module 'aws-sdk'")
 
   if (isAwsSdkError) {
     warn(getLogMessage('functions.missingAwsSdk'))