diff --git a/libexec/rtld-elf/rtld.c b/libexec/rtld-elf/rtld.c
index 0e7b122f4f3d..8082656657df 100644
--- a/libexec/rtld-elf/rtld.c
+++ b/libexec/rtld-elf/rtld.c
@@ -3443,13 +3443,9 @@ locate_dependency(const Obj_Entry *obj, const char *name)
 	if (object_match_name(needed->obj, name))
 	    return needed->obj;
     }
-
-    /*
-     * GNU LD sometimes refers to version dependencies on objects to which 
-     * it does not actually link. Treat this as a non-fatal error, and
-     * ignore this dependency.
-     */
-    return NULL;
+    _rtld_error("%s: Unexpected inconsistency: dependency %s not found",
+	obj->path, name);
+    die();
 }
 
 static int
@@ -3571,9 +3567,6 @@ rtld_verify_object_versions(Obj_Entry *obj)
     vn = obj->verneed;
     while (vn != NULL) {
 	depobj = locate_dependency(obj, obj->strtab + vn->vn_file);
-	if (depobj == NULL)
-	    break;
-
 	vna = (const Elf_Vernaux *) ((char *)vn + vn->vn_aux);
 	for (;;) {
 	    if (check_object_provided_version(obj, depobj, vna))