diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 1edd5f53cd..1d49243093 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1540,7 +1540,11 @@ if(WITH_SPNG)
 
   status("      Metadata Support:" "EXIF XMP ICC") # SPNG does not support cICP chunk.
 elseif(WITH_PNG OR HAVE_PNG)
-  status("    PNG:"  PNG_FOUND  THEN "${PNG_LIBRARY} (ver ${PNG_VERSION_STRING})" ELSE "build (ver ${PNG_VERSION_STRING})")
+  if(BUILD_PNG)
+    status("    PNG:" FALSE THEN "" ELSE "build (ver ${PNG_VERSION_STRING})")
+  else()
+    status("    PNG:"  PNG_FOUND  THEN "${PNG_LIBRARY} (ver ${PNG_VERSION_STRING})" ELSE "build (ver ${PNG_VERSION_STRING})")
+  endif()
   if(BUILD_PNG AND PNG_HARDWARE_OPTIMIZATIONS)
     status("      SIMD Support Request:" "YES")
     if(PNG_INTEL_SSE)
diff --git a/cmake/OpenCVFindLibsGrfmt.cmake b/cmake/OpenCVFindLibsGrfmt.cmake
index c3c358f6fc..15e8a133cd 100644
--- a/cmake/OpenCVFindLibsGrfmt.cmake
+++ b/cmake/OpenCVFindLibsGrfmt.cmake
@@ -333,7 +333,7 @@ if(NOT HAVE_SPNG AND WITH_PNG)
   if(BUILD_PNG)
     ocv_clear_vars(PNG_FOUND)
   else()
-    ocv_clear_internal_cache_vars(PNG_LIBRARY PNG_INCLUDE_DIR)
+    ocv_clear_internal_cache_vars(PNG_LIBRARY PNG_INCLUDE_DIR PNG_PNG_INCLUDE_DIR)
     find_package(PNG QUIET)
   endif()
 
@@ -348,6 +348,18 @@ if(NOT HAVE_SPNG AND WITH_PNG)
     ocv_parse_header_version(PNG "${PNG_INCLUDE_DIR}/png.h" PNG_LIBPNG_VER_STRING)
   endif()
 
+  if(BUILD_PNG)
+    # Downstream find_package(PNG) calls from transitive dependencies
+    # (included via include() in the same scope) may overwrite PNG_FOUND
+    # and related variables. PNG_LIBRARY is naturally protected by
+    # FindPNG's "if(NOT PNG_LIBRARY)" guard, but PNG_PNG_INCLUDE_DIR
+    # (searched via find_path without a guard) and its derived variables
+    # (PNG_INCLUDE_DIR, PNG_LIBRARIES, PNG_VERSION_STRING) are not.
+    # Lock PNG_PNG_INCLUDE_DIR so that find_path() respects the cached
+    # bundled path and skips the system search.
+    set(PNG_PNG_INCLUDE_DIR "${PNG_INCLUDE_DIR}" CACHE INTERNAL "PNG include dir (bundled)")
+  endif()
+
   set(HAVE_PNG YES)
 endif()