diff --git a/bfd/coffcode.h b/bfd/coffcode.h
index 12cc7c3ca7..267c6ce278 100644
--- a/bfd/coffcode.h
+++ b/bfd/coffcode.h
@@ -376,6 +376,12 @@ extern const bfd_target TARGET_SYM_BIG;
 # define COFF_WITH_EXTENDED_RELOC_COUNTER
 #endif
 
+#if defined(COFF_WITH_PE) && !defined(COFF_IMAGE_WITH_PE)
+# define COFF_DEFAULT_MAX_NSCNS (IMAGE_SYM_SECTION_MAX + 1)
+#else
+# define COFF_DEFAULT_MAX_NSCNS 32768
+#endif
+
 #if defined (COFF_LONG_SECTION_NAMES)
 /* Needed to expand the inputs to BLANKOR1TOODD.  */
 #define COFFLONGSECTIONCATHELPER(x,y)    x ## y
@@ -5615,7 +5621,7 @@ static const bfd_coff_backend_data bfd_coff_std_swap_table ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED =
 #else
   2,
 #endif
-  32768,
+  COFF_DEFAULT_MAX_NSCNS,
   coff_SWAP_filehdr_in, coff_SWAP_aouthdr_in, coff_SWAP_scnhdr_in,
   coff_SWAP_reloc_in, coff_bad_format_hook, coff_set_arch_mach_hook,
   coff_mkobject_hook, styp_to_sec_flags, coff_set_alignment_hook,
@@ -5656,7 +5662,7 @@ static const bfd_coff_backend_data ticoff0_swap_table =
 #else
   2,
 #endif
-  32768,
+  COFF_DEFAULT_MAX_NSCNS,
   coff_SWAP_filehdr_in, coff_SWAP_aouthdr_in, coff_SWAP_scnhdr_in,
   coff_swap_reloc_v0_in, ticoff0_bad_format_hook, coff_set_arch_mach_hook,
   coff_mkobject_hook, styp_to_sec_flags, coff_set_alignment_hook,
@@ -5698,7 +5704,7 @@ static const bfd_coff_backend_data ticoff1_swap_table =
 #else
   2,
 #endif
-  32768,
+  COFF_DEFAULT_MAX_NSCNS,
   coff_SWAP_filehdr_in, coff_SWAP_aouthdr_in, coff_SWAP_scnhdr_in,
   coff_SWAP_reloc_in, ticoff1_bad_format_hook, coff_set_arch_mach_hook,
   coff_mkobject_hook, styp_to_sec_flags, coff_set_alignment_hook,
diff --git a/bfd/peXXigen.c b/bfd/peXXigen.c
index bdb23dcbca..dbd30f8747 100644
--- a/bfd/peXXigen.c
+++ b/bfd/peXXigen.c
@@ -109,6 +109,48 @@
 #define SetHighBit(val)      ((val) | 0x80000000)
 #define WithoutHighBit(val)  ((val) & 0x7fffffff)
 
+static int
+pe_decode_sym_section_number (bfd *abfd, const char *raw_scnum)
+{
+  unsigned int scnum = H_GET_16 (abfd, raw_scnum);
+
+  switch (scnum)
+    {
+    case IMAGE_SYM_UNDEFINED:
+      return N_UNDEF;
+    case IMAGE_SYM_ABSOLUTE:
+      return N_ABS;
+    case IMAGE_SYM_DEBUG:
+      return N_DEBUG;
+    default:
+      return scnum;
+    }
+}
+
+static void
+pe_encode_sym_section_number (bfd *abfd, int scnum, char *raw_scnum)
+{
+  unsigned int encoded_scnum;
+
+  switch (scnum)
+    {
+    case N_UNDEF:
+      encoded_scnum = IMAGE_SYM_UNDEFINED;
+      break;
+    case N_ABS:
+      encoded_scnum = IMAGE_SYM_ABSOLUTE;
+      break;
+    case N_DEBUG:
+      encoded_scnum = IMAGE_SYM_DEBUG;
+      break;
+    default:
+      encoded_scnum = scnum;
+      break;
+    }
+
+  H_PUT_16 (abfd, encoded_scnum, raw_scnum);
+}
+
 void
 _bfd_XXi_swap_sym_in (bfd * abfd, void * ext1, void * in1)
 {
@@ -124,7 +166,7 @@ _bfd_XXi_swap_sym_in (bfd * abfd, void * ext1, void * in1)
     memcpy (in->_n._n_name, ext->e.e_name, SYMNMLEN);
 
   in->n_value = H_GET_32 (abfd, ext->e_value);
-  in->n_scnum = (short) H_GET_16 (abfd, ext->e_scnum);
+  in->n_scnum = pe_decode_sym_section_number (abfd, ext->e_scnum);
 
   if (sizeof (ext->e_type) == 2)
     in->n_type = H_GET_16 (abfd, ext->e_type);
@@ -262,7 +304,7 @@ _bfd_XXi_swap_sym_out (bfd * abfd, void * inp, void * extp)
     }
 
   H_PUT_32 (abfd, in->n_value, ext->e_value);
-  H_PUT_16 (abfd, in->n_scnum, ext->e_scnum);
+  pe_encode_sym_section_number (abfd, in->n_scnum, ext->e_scnum);
 
   if (sizeof (ext->e_type) == 2)
     H_PUT_16 (abfd, in->n_type, ext->e_type);
diff --git a/gas/testsuite/gas/pe/large-obj-normal.d b/gas/testsuite/gas/pe/large-obj-normal.d
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e9009e5795
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gas/testsuite/gas/pe/large-obj-normal.d
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+#objdump: -h -t
+#name: PE large normal object after raising the normal section limit
+
+# This only becomes meaningful once normal PE/COFF is allowed past the
+# old 32767-section cutoff.  Before that, BFD errors out or auto-promotes
+# to bigobj before the normal 16-bit symbol-section encoding is exercised.
+
+.*: *file format pe-(aarch64-little|i386|x86-64)
+
+Sections:
+#...
+40002 +\.data\$a39999  .*
+                  CONTENTS, ALLOC, LOAD, DATA
+
+SYMBOL TABLE:
+#...
+.*\(sec 40003\).*\(scl +2\).*\) 0x[0-9a-f]+ a39999$
diff --git a/gas/testsuite/gas/pe/large-obj-normal.s b/gas/testsuite/gas/pe/large-obj-normal.s
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..254733023d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gas/testsuite/gas/pe/large-obj-normal.s
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+	.file "large-obj-normal.s"
+
+	.irp n,0,1,2,3
+	.irp m,0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
+	.irp c,0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
+	.irp d,0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
+	.irp u,0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
+	.globl a\n\m\c\d\u
+	.section .data$a\n\m\c\d\u,"w"
+a\n\m\c\d\u :
+	.byte 1
+	.endr
+	.endr
+	.endr
+	.endr
+	.endr
diff --git a/gas/testsuite/gas/pe/pe.exp b/gas/testsuite/gas/pe/pe.exp
index 82f217cf94..600fd2425a 100644
--- a/gas/testsuite/gas/pe/pe.exp
+++ b/gas/testsuite/gas/pe/pe.exp
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ if {[istarget "aarch64-*-pe*"] || [istarget "aarch64-*-mingw*"]} {
 if { [istarget "aarch64-*-*"]
      || ([istarget "i*86-*-*"] && ![istarget "*-*-interix*"])
      || [istarget "x86_64-*-*"] } then {
+	run_dump_test "large-obj-normal"
 	run_dump_test "big-obj"
 	run_dump_test "big-obj-auto"
 }
diff --git a/include/coff/pe.h b/include/coff/pe.h
index ece4bf25db..133548ff4b 100644
--- a/include/coff/pe.h
+++ b/include/coff/pe.h
@@ -388,6 +388,11 @@ struct external_SYMBOL_EX
   char e_numaux[1];
 } ATTRIBUTE_PACKED ;
 
+#define IMAGE_SYM_UNDEFINED      0
+#define IMAGE_SYM_ABSOLUTE       0xffff
+#define IMAGE_SYM_DEBUG          0xfffe
+#define IMAGE_SYM_SECTION_MAX    0xfeff
+
 #define	SYMENT_BIGOBJ	struct external_SYMBOL_EX
 #define	SYMESZ_BIGOBJ	20