diff --git a/bfd/elfnn-aarch64.c b/bfd/elfnn-aarch64.c
index b460ea4764965da3b770ff6528730b4248377b16..1a65e6e5a64e115a99be8a707651ea1786b3fcdc 100644
--- a/bfd/elfnn-aarch64.c
+++ b/bfd/elfnn-aarch64.c
@@ -8715,7 +8715,7 @@ elfNN_aarch64_merge_private_bfd_data (bfd *ibfd, struct bfd_link_info *info)
   bfd *obfd = info->output_bfd;
   flagword out_flags;
   flagword in_flags;
-  bfd_boolean flags_compatible = TRUE;
+  bfd_boolean flags_compatible = FALSE;
   asection *sec;
 
   /* Check if we have the same endianess.  */
@@ -8736,6 +8736,8 @@ elfNN_aarch64_merge_private_bfd_data (bfd *ibfd, struct bfd_link_info *info)
 
   if (!elf_flags_init (obfd))
     {
+      elf_flags_init (obfd) = TRUE;
+
       /* If the input is the default architecture and had the default
 	 flags then do not bother setting the flags for the output
 	 architecture, instead allow future merges to do this.  If no
@@ -8746,7 +8748,6 @@ elfNN_aarch64_merge_private_bfd_data (bfd *ibfd, struct bfd_link_info *info)
 	  && elf_elfheader (ibfd)->e_flags == 0)
 	return TRUE;
 
-      elf_flags_init (obfd) = TRUE;
       elf_elfheader (obfd)->e_flags = in_flags;
 
       if (bfd_get_arch (obfd) == bfd_get_arch (ibfd)
@@ -8770,11 +8771,17 @@ elfNN_aarch64_merge_private_bfd_data (bfd *ibfd, struct bfd_link_info *info)
      Also check to see if there are no code sections in the input.
      In this case there is no need to check for code specific flags.
      XXX - do we need to worry about floating-point format compatability
-     in data sections ?  */
+     in data sections ?
+
+     We definitely need to check for data sections if one set of flags is
+     targetting the PURECAP abi and another is not.  Pointers being
+     capabilities in data sections can not be glossed over.  */
   if (!(ibfd->flags & DYNAMIC))
     {
       bfd_boolean null_input_bfd = TRUE;
-      bfd_boolean only_data_sections = TRUE;
+      bfd_boolean only_data_sections
+	= !(in_flags & EF_AARCH64_CHERI_PURECAP
+	    || out_flags & EF_AARCH64_CHERI_PURECAP);
 
       for (sec = ibfd->sections; sec != NULL; sec = sec->next)
 	{
diff --git a/ld/testsuite/ld-aarch64/aarch64-elf.exp b/ld/testsuite/ld-aarch64/aarch64-elf.exp
index c40eba959421ac6d5e97f11d95a5900fa8e5b2bf..9168a810fc57783dd122ce40b6385dddc6888042 100644
--- a/ld/testsuite/ld-aarch64/aarch64-elf.exp
+++ b/ld/testsuite/ld-aarch64/aarch64-elf.exp
@@ -255,6 +255,7 @@ run_dump_test_lp64 "emit-morello-reloc-markers-3"
 run_dump_test_lp64 "morello-sizeless-local-syms"
 run_dump_test_lp64 "morello-sizeless-global-syms"
 run_dump_test_lp64 "morello-sizeless-got-syms"
+run_dump_test_lp64 "morello-disallow-merged-binaries"
 
 run_dump_test_lp64 "morello-capinit"
 run_dump_test_lp64 "morello-stubs"
diff --git a/ld/testsuite/ld-aarch64/morello-disallow-merged-binaries-code.s b/ld/testsuite/ld-aarch64/morello-disallow-merged-binaries-code.s
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..83a7291c911f83f5ae611a3db7afbf95e2f0b10d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ld/testsuite/ld-aarch64/morello-disallow-merged-binaries-code.s
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+	.file	"very-basic-test.c"
+	.text
+	.align	2
+	.global	_start
+	.type	_start, %function
+_start:
+	adrp	c0, :got:extobj
+	ldr	c0, [c0, #:got_lo12:extobj]
+	ldr	w0, [c0]
+	ret
+	.size	_start, .-_start
diff --git a/ld/testsuite/ld-aarch64/morello-disallow-merged-binaries-data.s b/ld/testsuite/ld-aarch64/morello-disallow-merged-binaries-data.s
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..a9be82acddbb258ca8a27ea4b16adb62c786411d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ld/testsuite/ld-aarch64/morello-disallow-merged-binaries-data.s
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+	.text
+	.global	extobj
+	.data
+	.align	2
+	.type	extobj, %object
+	.size	extobj, 4
+extobj:
+	.word	1
diff --git a/ld/testsuite/ld-aarch64/morello-disallow-merged-binaries.d b/ld/testsuite/ld-aarch64/morello-disallow-merged-binaries.d
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..ddb44c59764c71a5ea23a381ae02615f52a8e571
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ld/testsuite/ld-aarch64/morello-disallow-merged-binaries.d
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+#source: morello-disallow-merged-binaries-data.s -march=morello
+#source: morello-disallow-merged-binaries-code.s -march=morello+c64
+#ld: -static
+#error: .*failed to merge target specific data.*