diff -rupN --no-dereference binutils-2.32/bfd/coffgen.c binutils-2.32-new/bfd/coffgen.c
--- binutils-2.32/bfd/coffgen.c	2019-11-19 20:47:08.571628378 +0100
+++ binutils-2.32-new/bfd/coffgen.c	2019-11-19 20:47:17.460680520 +0100
@@ -2639,6 +2639,9 @@ _bfd_coff_section_already_linked (bfd *a
   struct bfd_section_already_linked_hash_entry *already_linked_list;
   struct coff_comdat_info *s_comdat;
 
+  if (sec->output_section == bfd_abs_section_ptr)
+    return FALSE;
+
   flags = sec->flags;
   if ((flags & SEC_LINK_ONCE) == 0)
     return FALSE;
diff -rupN --no-dereference binutils-2.32/bfd/cofflink.c binutils-2.32-new/bfd/cofflink.c
--- binutils-2.32/bfd/cofflink.c	2019-01-19 17:01:32.000000000 +0100
+++ binutils-2.32-new/bfd/cofflink.c	2019-11-19 20:47:17.460680520 +0100
@@ -310,7 +310,9 @@ coff_link_add_symbols (bfd *abfd,
 	    case COFF_SYMBOL_GLOBAL:
 	      flags = BSF_EXPORT | BSF_GLOBAL;
 	      section = coff_section_from_bfd_index (abfd, sym.n_scnum);
-	      if (! obj_pe (abfd))
+	      if (discarded_section (section))
+		section = bfd_und_section_ptr;
+	      else if (! obj_pe (abfd))
 		value -= section->vma;
 	      break;
 
@@ -327,6 +329,8 @@ coff_link_add_symbols (bfd *abfd,
 	    case COFF_SYMBOL_PE_SECTION:
 	      flags = BSF_SECTION_SYM | BSF_GLOBAL;
 	      section = coff_section_from_bfd_index (abfd, sym.n_scnum);
+	      if (discarded_section (section))
+		section = bfd_und_section_ptr;
 	      break;
 	    }
 
