diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-codepipeline-actions/lib/codebuild/build-action.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-codepipeline-actions/lib/codebuild/build-action.ts
index dc40545e04e49..33a53ac34239f 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-codepipeline-actions/lib/codebuild/build-action.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-codepipeline-actions/lib/codebuild/build-action.ts
@@ -60,6 +60,21 @@ export interface CodeBuildActionProps extends codepipeline.CommonAwsActionProps
    * @default CodeBuildActionType.BUILD
    */
   readonly type?: CodeBuildActionType;
+
+  /**
+   * Whether to validate if the action,
+   * if it references a project in a different account,
+   * does not have any outputs.
+   * This is a known CodeBuild limitation.
+   * If the action is cross-account, and has outputs,
+   * and this property is true (which is the default),
+   * an exception will be thrown.
+   * You can set this to false to skip this validation.
+   *
+   * @default true
+   * @see https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/4169
+   */
+  readonly validateCrossAccountOutputs?: boolean;
 }
 
 /**
@@ -83,8 +98,21 @@ export class CodeBuildAction extends Action {
     this.props = props;
   }
 
-  protected bound(_scope: cdk.Construct, _stage: codepipeline.IStage, options: codepipeline.ActionBindOptions):
+  protected bound(scope: cdk.Construct, _stage: codepipeline.IStage, options: codepipeline.ActionBindOptions):
       codepipeline.ActionConfig {
+    // check for a cross-account action if there are any outputs
+    if (this.props.validateCrossAccountOutputs !== false &&
+        (this.actionProperties.outputs || []).length > 0) {
+      const pipelineStack = cdk.Stack.of(scope);
+      const projectStack = cdk.Stack.of(this.props.project);
+      if (pipelineStack.account !== projectStack.account) {
+        throw new Error('A cross-account CodeBuild action cannot have outputs. ' +
+          'This is a know CodeBuild limitation. ' +
+          'See https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/4169 for details. ' +
+          'You can pass the validateCrossAccountOutputs property as false to skip this validation');
+      }
+    }
+
     // grant the Pipeline role the required permissions to this Project
     options.role.addToPolicy(new iam.PolicyStatement({
       resources: [this.props.project.projectArn],
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-codepipeline-actions/test/codebuild/test.codebuild-action.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-codepipeline-actions/test/codebuild/test.codebuild-action.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..335e9d0e8cd03
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-codepipeline-actions/test/codebuild/test.codebuild-action.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+import codebuild = require('@aws-cdk/aws-codebuild');
+import codecommit = require('@aws-cdk/aws-codecommit');
+import codepipeline = require('@aws-cdk/aws-codepipeline');
+import { App, Stack } from '@aws-cdk/core';
+import { Test } from 'nodeunit';
+import cpactions = require('../../lib');
+
+// tslint:disable:object-literal-key-quotes
+
+export = {
+  'a cross-account CodeBuild action with outputs': {
+    'causes an error by default'(test: Test) {
+      const app = new App();
+
+      const projectStack = new Stack(app, 'ProjectStack', {
+        env: {
+          region: 'us-west-2',
+          account: '012345678901',
+        },
+      });
+      const project = new codebuild.PipelineProject(projectStack, 'Project');
+
+      const pipelineStack = new Stack(app, 'PipelineStack', {
+        env: {
+          region: 'us-west-2',
+          account: '123456789012',
+        },
+      });
+      const sourceOutput = new codepipeline.Artifact();
+      const pipeline = new codepipeline.Pipeline(pipelineStack, 'Pipeline', {
+        stages: [
+          {
+            stageName: 'Source',
+            actions: [new cpactions.CodeCommitSourceAction({
+              actionName: 'CodeCommit',
+              repository: codecommit.Repository.fromRepositoryName(pipelineStack, 'Repo', 'repo-name'),
+              output: sourceOutput,
+            })],
+          },
+        ],
+      });
+      const buildStage = pipeline.addStage({
+        stageName: 'Build',
+      });
+
+      // this works fine - no outputs!
+      buildStage.addAction(new cpactions.CodeBuildAction({
+        actionName: 'Build1',
+        input: sourceOutput,
+        project,
+      }));
+
+      const buildAction2 = new cpactions.CodeBuildAction({
+        actionName: 'Build2',
+        input: sourceOutput,
+        project,
+        outputs: [new codepipeline.Artifact()],
+      });
+
+      test.throws(() => {
+        buildStage.addAction(buildAction2);
+      }, /https:\/\/github\.com\/aws\/aws-cdk\/issues\/4169/);
+
+      test.done();
+    },
+
+    'works if validateCrossAccountOutputs is passed as false'(test: Test) {
+      const app = new App();
+
+      const projectStack = new Stack(app, 'ProjectStack', {
+        env: {
+          region: 'us-west-2',
+          account: '012345678901',
+        },
+      });
+      const project = new codebuild.PipelineProject(projectStack, 'Project');
+
+      const pipelineStack = new Stack(app, 'PipelineStack', {
+        env: {
+          region: 'us-west-2',
+          account: '123456789012',
+        },
+      });
+      const sourceOutput = new codepipeline.Artifact();
+      const pipeline = new codepipeline.Pipeline(pipelineStack, 'Pipeline', {
+        stages: [
+          {
+            stageName: 'Source',
+            actions: [new cpactions.CodeCommitSourceAction({
+              actionName: 'CodeCommit',
+              repository: codecommit.Repository.fromRepositoryName(pipelineStack, 'Repo', 'repo-name'),
+              output: sourceOutput,
+            })],
+          },
+        ],
+      });
+      const buildStage = pipeline.addStage({
+        stageName: 'Build',
+      });
+
+      buildStage.addAction(new cpactions.CodeBuildAction({
+        actionName: 'Build2',
+        input: sourceOutput,
+        project,
+        outputs: [new codepipeline.Artifact()],
+        validateCrossAccountOutputs: false,
+      }));
+
+      test.done();
+    },
+  },
+};