diff --git a/bfd/ChangeLog b/bfd/ChangeLog
index 9a2ce289c2..b51de1fcc9 100644
--- a/bfd/ChangeLog
+++ b/bfd/ChangeLog
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 2007-07-26  Michael Snyder  <msnyder@access-company.com>
 
+	* coffgen.c (fixup_symbol_value): Guard against null; 
+	bfd_is_com_section will dereference the section pointer.
+
 	* syms.c (bfd_decode_symclass): Guard against NULL, since 
 	bfd_is_com_section dereferences the pointer.
 
diff --git a/bfd/coffgen.c b/bfd/coffgen.c
index 7fad78c78f..694625fa0a 100644
--- a/bfd/coffgen.c
+++ b/bfd/coffgen.c
@@ -567,7 +567,8 @@ fixup_symbol_value (bfd *abfd,
 		    struct internal_syment *syment)
 {
   /* Normalize the symbol flags.  */
-  if (bfd_is_com_section (coff_symbol_ptr->symbol.section))
+  if (coff_symbol_ptr->symbol.section 
+      && bfd_is_com_section (coff_symbol_ptr->symbol.section))
     {
       /* A common symbol is undefined with a value.  */
       syment->n_scnum = N_UNDEF;