diff --git a/terminal.c b/terminal.c
index c1a12c04..a0596b8d 100644
--- a/terminal.c
+++ b/terminal.c
@@ -1600,6 +1600,24 @@ void term_reconfig(Terminal *term, Conf *conf)
     term_copy_stuff_from_conf(term);
 }
 
+/*
+ * Ensure the position variables describing the ends of the terminal
+ * selection are in bounds with respect to the actual extent of the
+ * screen and scrollback.
+ */
+static void term_selection_bounds_check(Terminal *term)
+{
+    pos lo, hi;
+    lo.y = -count234(term->scrollback);
+    lo.x = 0;
+    hi.y = count234(term->screen);
+    hi.x = term->cols - 1;
+
+    term->selstart = bound_pos(term->selstart, lo, hi);
+    term->selend = bound_pos(term->selend, lo, hi);
+    term->selanchor = bound_pos(term->selanchor, lo, hi);
+}
+
 /*
  * Clear the scrollback.
  */
@@ -1621,6 +1639,11 @@ void term_clrsb(Terminal *term)
 	sfree(line);            /* this is compressed data, not a termline */
     }
 
+    /*
+     * Make sure we didn't invalidate selstart and selend in the process.
+     */
+    term_selection_bounds_check(term);
+
     /*
      * When clearing the scrollback, we also truncate any termlines on
      * the current screen which have remembered data from a previous
diff --git a/terminal.h b/terminal.h
index 1ed0b17d..8da3b9b4 100644
--- a/terminal.h
+++ b/terminal.h
@@ -475,4 +475,9 @@ static inline bool decpos_fn(pos *p, int cols)
 #define incpos(p) incpos_fn(&(p), GET_TERM_COLS)
 #define decpos(p) decpos_fn(&(p), GET_TERM_COLS)
 
+static inline pos bound_pos(pos p, pos lo, pos hi)
+{
+    return poslt(p, lo) ? lo : poslt(p, hi) ? p : hi;
+}
+
 #endif