diff --git a/libbacktrace/elf.cpp b/libbacktrace/elf.cpp
index 700be542..459e13d7 100644
--- a/libbacktrace/elf.cpp
+++ b/libbacktrace/elf.cpp
@@ -2789,6 +2789,9 @@ elf_add (struct backtrace_state *state, const char *filename, int descriptor,
       backtrace_release_view (state, &shdr_view, error_callback, data);
     }
 
+  if (shnum == 0 || shstrndx == 0)
+    goto fail;
+
   /* To translate PC to file/line when using DWARF, we need to find
      the .debug_info and .debug_line sections.  */
 
diff --git a/libbacktrace/posix.cpp b/libbacktrace/posix.cpp
index fd364b89..da6e56be 100644
--- a/libbacktrace/posix.cpp
+++ b/libbacktrace/posix.cpp
@@ -70,7 +70,11 @@ backtrace_open (const char *filename, backtrace_error_callback error_callback,
   descriptor = open (filename, (int) (O_RDONLY | O_BINARY | O_CLOEXEC));
   if (descriptor < 0)
     {
-      if (does_not_exist != NULL && errno == ENOENT)
+      /* If DOES_NOT_EXIST is not NULL, then don't call ERROR_CALLBACK
+        if the file does not exist.  We treat lacking permission to
+        open the file as the file not existing; this case arises when
+        running the libgo syscall package tests as root.  */
+      if (does_not_exist != NULL && (errno == ENOENT || errno == EACCES))
 	*does_not_exist = 1;
       else
 	error_callback (data, filename, errno);