diff --git a/inference-engine/src/mkldnn_plugin/nodes/mkldnn_normalize_node.cpp b/inference-engine/src/mkldnn_plugin/nodes/mkldnn_normalize_node.cpp
index ac1950b6e90..80845426ed1 100644
--- a/inference-engine/src/mkldnn_plugin/nodes/mkldnn_normalize_node.cpp
+++ b/inference-engine/src/mkldnn_plugin/nodes/mkldnn_normalize_node.cpp
@@ -708,13 +708,10 @@ void MKLDNNNormalizeNode::getSupportedDescriptors() {
     if (inData == nullptr) {
         THROW_IE_EXCEPTION << errPrefix << "has nullable input data.";
     }
-    const auto& layout = inData->getLayout();
     const auto& inDims = inData->getDims();
-    size_t channels = 1lu;
-    if (layout == Layout::NCHW || layout == Layout::NC)
-        channels = inDims[1];
-    else
-        THROW_IE_EXCEPTION << errPrefix << "has unsupported layout: '" << layout << "'.";
+    if (inDims.size() < 2)
+        THROW_IE_EXCEPTION << errPrefix << "has unsupported layout: '" << inData->getLayout() << "'.";
+    const size_t channels = inDims[1];
     const auto weightsSize = tweights->size();
     if (weightsSize != channels) {
         if (weightsSize == 1) {
diff --git a/inference-engine/tests/functional/plugin/cpu/shared_tests_instances/single_layer_tests/normalize_l2.cpp b/inference-engine/tests/functional/plugin/cpu/shared_tests_instances/single_layer_tests/normalize_l2.cpp
index 0df1e6573cf..3f562d581f0 100644
--- a/inference-engine/tests/functional/plugin/cpu/shared_tests_instances/single_layer_tests/normalize_l2.cpp
+++ b/inference-engine/tests/functional/plugin/cpu/shared_tests_instances/single_layer_tests/normalize_l2.cpp
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ const auto normL2params = testing::Combine(
         testing::ValuesIn(axes),
         testing::ValuesIn(eps),
         testing::ValuesIn(epsMode),
-        testing::Values(std::vector<size_t>{1, 3, 10, 5}),
+        testing::ValuesIn(std::vector<std::vector<size_t>>({{1, 3, 10, 5}, {1, 5, 3}})),
         testing::ValuesIn(netPrecisions),
         testing::Values(CommonTestUtils::DEVICE_CPU)
 );