diff --git a/lld/ELF/InputSection.cpp b/lld/ELF/InputSection.cpp
index c8c0a7cdbf10..855d520b6194 100644
--- a/lld/ELF/InputSection.cpp
+++ b/lld/ELF/InputSection.cpp
@@ -1548,10 +1548,7 @@ void MergeInputSection::splitIntoPieces() {
 }
 
 SectionPiece &MergeInputSection::getSectionPiece(uint64_t offset) {
-  if (content().size() <= offset) {
-    Err(getCtx()) << this << ": offset is outside the section";
-    return pieces[0];
-  }
+  assert(offset < content().size());
   return partition_point(
       pieces, [=](SectionPiece p) { return p.inputOff <= offset; })[-1];
 }
diff --git a/lld/ELF/MarkLive.cpp b/lld/ELF/MarkLive.cpp
index c43022a6b9d3..1727bd1db069 100644
--- a/lld/ELF/MarkLive.cpp
+++ b/lld/ELF/MarkLive.cpp
@@ -145,6 +145,11 @@ void MarkLive<ELFT, TrackWhyLive>::resolveReloc(InputSectionBase &sec,
         offset += rel.addend;
       else
         offset += getAddend<ELFT>(ctx, sec, rel);
+      // Skip out-of-bounds offsets to avoid an assertion failure in
+      // getSectionPiece.
+      if (auto *ms = dyn_cast<MergeInputSection>(relSec);
+          ms && offset >= ms->content().size())
+        return;
     }
 
     // fromFDE being true means this is referenced by a FDE in a .eh_frame
diff --git a/lld/ELF/Symbols.cpp b/lld/ELF/Symbols.cpp
index d9c46c9d28d3..34727f24ddde 100644
--- a/lld/ELF/Symbols.cpp
+++ b/lld/ELF/Symbols.cpp
@@ -88,8 +88,16 @@ static uint64_t getSymVA(Ctx &ctx, const Symbol &sym, int64_t addend) {
     // To make this work, we incorporate the addend into the section
     // offset (and zero out the addend for later processing) so that
     // we find the right object in the section.
-    if (d.isSection())
+    if (d.isSection()) {
       offset += addend;
+      if (auto *ms = dyn_cast<MergeInputSection>(isec);
+          ms && offset >= ms->content().size()) {
+        if (offset > ms->content().size())
+          Err(ctx) << ms << ": offset 0x" << Twine::utohexstr(offset)
+                   << " is outside the section";
+        return 0;
+      }
+    }
 
     // In the typical case, this is actually very simple and boils
     // down to adding together 3 numbers:
diff --git a/lld/test/ELF/merge-piece-oob.s b/lld/test/ELF/merge-piece-oob.s
index ac552cc1498a..1ff34768a4d1 100644
--- a/lld/test/ELF/merge-piece-oob.s
+++ b/lld/test/ELF/merge-piece-oob.s
@@ -1,18 +1,25 @@
 # REQUIRES: x86
 ## Test out-of-bounds section symbol offsets in SHF_MERGE sections.
+## Non-section symbols and offset <= section_size are accepted, matching GNU ld.
 
 # RUN: llvm-mc %s -o %t.o -filetype=obj -triple=x86_64
 # RUN: not ld.lld %t.o -o /dev/null -shared 2>&1 | FileCheck %s -DPREFIX=error --implicit-check-not=error:
 # RUN: ld.lld %t.o -o /dev/null -shared --noinhibit-exec 2>&1 | FileCheck %s -DPREFIX=warning --implicit-check-not=warning:
 
-# CHECK:      [[PREFIX]]: {{.*}}:(.foo): offset is outside the section
-# CHECK-NEXT: [[PREFIX]]: {{.*}}:(.foo): offset is outside the section
-# CHECK-NEXT: [[PREFIX]]: {{.*}}:(.foo): offset is outside the section
-# CHECK-NEXT: [[PREFIX]]: {{.*}}:(.foo): offset is outside the section
-## .rodata.str1.1 is "abc\0" (4 bytes).
-# CHECK-NEXT: [[PREFIX]]: {{.*}}:(.rodata.str1.1): offset is outside the section
+## .foo is 8 bytes with entsize=8 (1 piece). .foo+8 (offset==size) is accepted.
+# CHECK:      [[PREFIX]]: {{.*}}:(.foo): offset 0x9 is outside the section
+# CHECK-NEXT: [[PREFIX]]: {{.*}}:(.foo): offset 0x100000000 is outside the section
+# CHECK-NEXT: [[PREFIX]]: {{.*}}:(.foo): offset 0xffffffffffffffff is outside the section
+## .rodata.str1.1 is "abc\0" (4 bytes). offset<=size is accepted.
+# CHECK-NEXT: [[PREFIX]]: {{.*}}:(.rodata.str1.1): offset 0x5 is outside the section
 ## .data.retain references .foo-1 as well.
-# CHECK-NEXT: [[PREFIX]]: {{.*}}:(.foo): offset is outside the section
+# CHECK-NEXT: [[PREFIX]]: {{.*}}:(.foo): offset 0xfffffffffffffffe is outside the section
+
+## Test that --gc-sections with an out-of-bounds offset doesn't crash.
+## .data is discarded but .data.retain (SHF_GNU_RETAIN) is kept.
+## The bad offset prevents the piece from being marked live, so .foo is discarded.
+# RUN: not ld.lld %t.o -o /dev/null --gc-sections 2>&1 | FileCheck %s --check-prefix=GC
+# GC: error: relocation refers to a discarded section: .foo
 
 .globl _start
 _start:
@@ -24,12 +31,13 @@ _start:
 .quad .foo - 1
 .quad .rodata.str1.1 + 3
 .quad .rodata.str1.1 + 4
+.quad .rodata.str1.1 + 5
 
 .quad a0 - 1
 .quad a0 + 9
 
 .section .data.retain,"awR"
-.quad .foo - 1
+.quad .foo - 2
 
 .section	.foo,"aM",@progbits,8
 a0: