Index: llvm/test/tools/llvm-objcopy/ELF/group.test
===================================================================
--- llvm/test/tools/llvm-objcopy/ELF/group.test
+++ llvm/test/tools/llvm-objcopy/ELF/group.test
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # RUN: yaml2obj %s -o %t
-# RUN: llvm-objcopy --remove-section=.text.bar %t %t2
-# RUN: llvm-readobj --elf-section-groups %t2 | FileCheck %s
+# RUN: llvm-objcopy --remove-section=.text.bar %t %t1
+# RUN: llvm-readobj --elf-section-groups %t1 | FileCheck %s
 
 # In this test the section .text.bar is getting removed, as a result, 
 # the indices of the sections which go after .text.bar will change, 
@@ -54,3 +54,25 @@
     Section:         .text.foo
     Size:            0x0000000000000000
     Binding:         STB_WEAK
+
+## This checks that tool will emit an error when trying to remove the symbol
+## table when we have the a group section linked with symtab.
+# RUN: not llvm-objcopy -R .symtab %t %t2 2>&1 | FileCheck %s --check-prefix=ERR -DINPUT=%t
+
+# ERR: error: '[[INPUT]]': section '.symtab' cannot be removed because it is referenced by the group section '.group'
+
+## The '.symtab' section could be removed using --allow-broken-links option.
+# RUN: llvm-objcopy --allow-broken-links -R .symtab %t %t3
+# RUN: llvm-readelf --sections %t3 | FileCheck %s --check-prefix=SECTIONS
+
+# SECTIONS: There are 6 section headers
+# SECTIONS: Name
+# SECTIONS-NEXT: NULL
+# SECTIONS-NEXT: .group
+# SECTIONS-NEXT: .text.bar
+# SECTIONS-NEXT: .text.foo
+# SECTIONS-NEXT: .strtab
+# SECTIONS-NEXT: .shstrtab
+
+## Nothing will change when removing symtab again; tool should exit with return code 0.
+# RUN: llvm-objcopy --allow-broken-links -R .symtab %t %t3
Index: llvm/tools/llvm-objcopy/ELF/Object.cpp
===================================================================
--- llvm/tools/llvm-objcopy/ELF/Object.cpp
+++ llvm/tools/llvm-objcopy/ELF/Object.cpp
@@ -972,6 +972,13 @@
 
 Error GroupSection::removeSectionReferences(
     bool AllowBrokenLinks, function_ref<bool(const SectionBase *)> ToRemove) {
+  if (ToRemove(SymTab) && !AllowBrokenLinks) {
+    return createStringError(
+        llvm::errc::invalid_argument,
+        "section '.symtab' cannot be removed because it is "
+        "referenced by the group section '%s'",
+        this->Name.data());
+  }
   llvm::erase_if(GroupMembers, ToRemove);
   return Error::success();
 }