diff -rupN --no-dereference binutils-2.34/gold/fileread.cc binutils-2.34-new/gold/fileread.cc
--- binutils-2.34/gold/fileread.cc	2020-01-18 14:55:48.000000000 +0100
+++ binutils-2.34-new/gold/fileread.cc	2020-12-18 02:57:23.485023881 +0100
@@ -381,6 +381,12 @@ File_read::do_read(off_t start, section_
   ssize_t bytes;
   if (this->whole_file_view_ != NULL)
     {
+      // See PR 23765 for an example of a testcase that triggers this error.
+      if (((ssize_t) start) < 0)
+	gold_fatal(_("%s: read failed, starting offset (%#llx) less than zero"),
+		   this->filename().c_str(),
+		   static_cast<long long>(start));
+	
       bytes = this->size_ - start;
       if (static_cast<section_size_type>(bytes) >= size)
 	{