diff --git a/llvm/lib/ObjCopy/ELF/ELFObject.cpp b/llvm/lib/ObjCopy/ELF/ELFObject.cpp
--- a/llvm/lib/ObjCopy/ELF/ELFObject.cpp
+++ b/llvm/lib/ObjCopy/ELF/ELFObject.cpp
@@ -1704,6 +1704,11 @@
     else
       return Data.takeError();
   case SHT_SYMTAB: {
+    // Duplicate SHT_SYMTAB sections are forbidden by the ELF gABI.
+    if (Obj.SymbolTable != nullptr)
+      return createStringError(llvm::errc::invalid_argument,
+                               "found multiple SHT_SYMTAB sections. "
+                               "Currently, an object file may have only one");
     auto &SymTab = Obj.addSection<SymbolTableSection>();
     Obj.SymbolTable = &SymTab;
     return SymTab;
diff --git a/llvm/test/tools/llvm-objcopy/ELF/symtab-duplicate.test b/llvm/test/tools/llvm-objcopy/ELF/symtab-duplicate.test
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/llvm/test/tools/llvm-objcopy/ELF/symtab-duplicate.test
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+# RUN: yaml2obj %s -o %t
+# RUN: not llvm-objcopy -O binary %t - 2>&1 | FileCheck %s --check-prefix=SYMTAB
+# SYMTAB: found multiple SHT_SYMTAB sections. Currently, an object file may have only one
+
+--- !ELF
+FileHeader:
+  Class:   ELFCLASS64
+  Data:    ELFDATA2LSB
+  Type:    ET_DYN
+  Machine: EM_X86_64
+Sections:
+  - Name: .symtab
+    Type: SHT_SYMTAB
+    Flags: [ SHF_ALLOC ]
+  - Name: .symtab2
+    Type: SHT_SYMTAB
+    Flags: [ SHF_ALLOC ]
+    
\ No newline at end of file