diff --git a/tests/nr-cuup/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/nr-cuup/CMakeLists.txt
index 02becb2496..9d48fd89e2 100644
--- a/tests/nr-cuup/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tests/nr-cuup/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,14 @@
 add_executable(nr-cuup-load-test nr-cuup-load-test.c)
+add_dependencies(nr-cuup-load-test params_libconfig)
 target_link_libraries(nr-cuup-load-test PRIVATE GTPV1U ${T_LIB} utils ITTI e1ap
   SCTP_CLIENT)
 target_link_libraries(nr-cuup-load-test PRIVATE asn1_lte_rrc_hdrs asn1_nr_rrc_hdrs) # ITTI
+
+if(ENABLE_TESTS)
+  # we add also nr-cuup as it is required for the test
+  add_dependencies(tests nr-cuup-load-test nr-cuup)
+  add_test(NAME nr_cuup_functional_test
+           COMMAND ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/nr-cuup-functional-test.sh ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/load-test.conf
+           WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}
+  )
+endif()
diff --git a/tests/nr-cuup/nr-cuup-functional-test.sh b/tests/nr-cuup/nr-cuup-functional-test.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..28a9b3779a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/nr-cuup/nr-cuup-functional-test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# this script takes one argument, which is the path to the CU-UP configuration
+if [ $# -ne 1 ]; then
+  echo "usage: $0 <cuup-config>"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+CONFIG=$1
+
+set -x
+
+# current dir should be CMAKE_BINARY_DIR
+./nr-cuup -O ${CONFIG} &
+CUUP_PID=$!
+
+timeout 5s ./tests/nr-cuup/nr-cuup-load-test -t 3 -d 10 -u 10
+RET=$?
+
+kill ${CUUP_PID}
+exit ${RET}