diff --git a/src/libraries/System.Reflection.Metadata/src/System/Reflection/PortableExecutable/PEHeaders.cs b/src/libraries/System.Reflection.Metadata/src/System/Reflection/PortableExecutable/PEHeaders.cs
index cc8ba755199efd..e1ef1f71236bc9 100644
--- a/src/libraries/System.Reflection.Metadata/src/System/Reflection/PortableExecutable/PEHeaders.cs
+++ b/src/libraries/System.Reflection.Metadata/src/System/Reflection/PortableExecutable/PEHeaders.cs
@@ -90,16 +90,30 @@ public PEHeaders(Stream peStream, int size, bool isLoadedImage)
 
             SkipDosHeader(ref reader, out bool isCoffOnly);
 
+            if (isCoffOnly && isLoadedImage)
+            {
+                // Only images can be loaded.
+                throw new BadImageFormatException(SR.InvalidPESignature);
+            }
+
             _coffHeaderStartOffset = reader.Offset;
             _coffHeader = new CoffHeader(ref reader);
 
-            if (!isCoffOnly)
+            if (isCoffOnly)
+            {
+                // In COFF files the size of the optional header must be zero.
+                if (_coffHeader.SizeOfOptionalHeader != 0)
+                {
+                    throw new BadImageFormatException(SR.UnknownFileFormat);
+                }
+            }
+            else
             {
                 _peHeaderStartOffset = reader.Offset;
                 _peHeader = new PEHeader(ref reader);
             }
 
-            _sectionHeaders = ReadSectionHeaders(ref reader);
+            _sectionHeaders = ReadSectionHeaders(ref reader, actualSize);
 
             if (!isCoffOnly)
             {
@@ -289,10 +303,10 @@ private static void SkipDosHeader(ref PEBinaryReader reader, out bool isCOFFOnly
             }
         }
 
-        private ImmutableArray<SectionHeader> ReadSectionHeaders(ref PEBinaryReader reader)
+        private ImmutableArray<SectionHeader> ReadSectionHeaders(ref PEBinaryReader reader, int size)
         {
             int numberOfSections = _coffHeader.NumberOfSections;
-            if (numberOfSections < 0)
+            if (numberOfSections < 0 || numberOfSections * SectionHeader.Size > size - reader.Offset)
             {
                 throw new BadImageFormatException(SR.InvalidNumberOfSections);
             }
@@ -384,16 +398,8 @@ private void CalculateMetadataLocation(long peImageSize, out int start, out int
                     return;
                 }
 
-                if (_isLoadedImage)
-                {
-                    start = SectionHeaders[cormeta].VirtualAddress;
-                    size = SectionHeaders[cormeta].VirtualSize;
-                }
-                else
-                {
-                    start = SectionHeaders[cormeta].PointerToRawData;
-                    size = SectionHeaders[cormeta].SizeOfRawData;
-                }
+                start = SectionHeaders[cormeta].PointerToRawData;
+                size = SectionHeaders[cormeta].SizeOfRawData;
             }
             else if (_corHeader == null)
             {
diff --git a/src/libraries/System.Reflection.Metadata/tests/PortableExecutable/PEHeadersTests.cs b/src/libraries/System.Reflection.Metadata/tests/PortableExecutable/PEHeadersTests.cs
index a5be92ff0d2f20..e38dae2bf59e44 100644
--- a/src/libraries/System.Reflection.Metadata/tests/PortableExecutable/PEHeadersTests.cs
+++ b/src/libraries/System.Reflection.Metadata/tests/PortableExecutable/PEHeadersTests.cs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 // Licensed to the .NET Foundation under one or more agreements.
 // The .NET Foundation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
 
+using System.Buffers.Binary;
 using System.IO;
 using System.Linq;
 using System.Reflection.Metadata.Tests;
@@ -50,6 +51,29 @@ public void Ctor_Streams()
             Assert.Equal(0, s.Position);
         }
 
+        [Fact]
+        public void Ctor_InvalidCoffHeader()
+        {
+            byte[] header = new byte[CoffHeader.Size];
+            _ = new PEHeaders(new MemoryStream(header));
+
+            // NumberOfSections is too big.
+            BinaryPrimitives.WriteInt16LittleEndian(header.AsSpan(16), 5);
+            Assert.Throws<BadImageFormatException>(() => new PEHeaders(new MemoryStream(header)));
+
+            header = new byte[CoffHeader.Size];
+            // SizeOfOptionalHeader is non-zero.
+            BinaryPrimitives.WriteInt16LittleEndian(header.AsSpan(2), 10);
+            Assert.Throws<BadImageFormatException>(() => new PEHeaders(new MemoryStream(header)));
+        }
+
+        [Fact]
+        public void Ctor_CoffFileLoadedImage()
+        {
+            byte[] file = new byte[CoffHeader.Size];
+            Assert.Throws<BadImageFormatException>(() => new PEHeaders(new MemoryStream(file), file.Length, isLoadedImage: true));
+        }
+
         [Fact]
         public void FromEmptyStream()
         {
diff --git a/src/libraries/System.Reflection.Metadata/tests/PortableExecutable/PEReaderTests.cs b/src/libraries/System.Reflection.Metadata/tests/PortableExecutable/PEReaderTests.cs
index b367fff3c382c5..13c9deab4498e7 100644
--- a/src/libraries/System.Reflection.Metadata/tests/PortableExecutable/PEReaderTests.cs
+++ b/src/libraries/System.Reflection.Metadata/tests/PortableExecutable/PEReaderTests.cs
@@ -820,10 +820,7 @@ public void Dispose()
             Assert.Throws<ObjectDisposedException>(() => reader.ReadDebugDirectory());
             Assert.Throws<ObjectDisposedException>(() => reader.ReadCodeViewDebugDirectoryData(ddCodeView));
             Assert.Throws<ObjectDisposedException>(() => reader.ReadEmbeddedPortablePdbDebugDirectoryData(ddEmbedded));
-
-            MetadataReaderProvider __;
-            string ___;
-            Assert.Throws<ObjectDisposedException>(() => reader.TryOpenAssociatedPortablePdb(@"x", _ => null, out __, out ___));
+            Assert.Throws<ObjectDisposedException>(() => reader.TryOpenAssociatedPortablePdb(@"x", _ => null, out _, out _));
 
             // ok to use providers after PEReader disposed:
             var pdbReader = pdbProvider.GetMetadataReader();
@@ -869,15 +866,5 @@ public unsafe void InvokeCtorWithIsLoadedImageAndPrefetchMetadataOptions2()
                 }
             }
         }
-
-        [Fact]
-        public void HasMetadataShouldReturnFalseWhenPrefetchingMetadataOfImageWithoutMetadata()
-        {
-            using (var fileStream = new MemoryStream(Misc.KeyPair))
-            using (var peReader = new PEReader(fileStream, PEStreamOptions.PrefetchMetadata | PEStreamOptions.LeaveOpen))
-            {
-                Assert.False(peReader.HasMetadata);
-            }
-        }
     }
 }