diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index a841bc970..c18ea7531 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+2026-03-26  Iñaki Ucar <iucar@fedoraproject.org>
+
+	* inst/include/Rcpp/internal/r_vector.h: Return null start for empty vectors
+	instead of an invalid pointer, which causes UB in e.g. std::copy
+	* inst/tinytest/test_vector.R: Add tests for std::copy
+	* inst/tinytest/cpp/Vector.cpp: Idem
+
 2026-03-26  Dirk Eddelbuettel  <edd@debian.org>
 
 	* inst/bib/Rcpp.bib: Refreshed a few more references
diff --git a/inst/include/Rcpp/internal/r_vector.h b/inst/include/Rcpp/internal/r_vector.h
index 589c75fed..c6a76b6ce 100644
--- a/inst/include/Rcpp/internal/r_vector.h
+++ b/inst/include/Rcpp/internal/r_vector.h
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@
 //
 // r_vector.h: Rcpp R/C++ interface class library -- information about R vectors
 //
-// Copyright (C) 2010 - 2017  Dirk Eddelbuettel and Romain Francois
+// Copyright (C) 2010 - 2025  Dirk Eddelbuettel and Romain François
+// Copyright (C) 2026         Dirk Eddelbuettel, Romain François and Iñaki Ucar
 //
 // This file is part of Rcpp.
 //
@@ -36,6 +37,8 @@ typename Rcpp::traits::storage_type<RTYPE>::type* r_vector_start(SEXP x) {
 #define RCPP_VECTOR_START_IMPL(__RTYPE__, __ACCESSOR__)                                              \
     template <>                                                                                      \
     inline typename Rcpp::traits::storage_type<__RTYPE__>::type* r_vector_start<__RTYPE__>(SEXP x) { \
+        if (Rf_xlength(x) == 0)                                                                      \
+            return NULL;                                                                             \
         return __ACCESSOR__(x);                                                                      \
     }
 
diff --git a/inst/tinytest/cpp/Vector.cpp b/inst/tinytest/cpp/Vector.cpp
index 4fc26b7e8..c324aa300 100644
--- a/inst/tinytest/cpp/Vector.cpp
+++ b/inst/tinytest/cpp/Vector.cpp
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@
 //
 // Vector.cpp: Rcpp R/C++ interface class library -- Vector unit tests
 //
-// Copyright (C) 2012 - 2018    Dirk Eddelbuettel and Romain Francois
+// Copyright (C) 2012 - 2025    Dirk Eddelbuettel and Romain François
+// Copyright (C) 2026           Dirk Eddelbuettel, Romain François and Iñaki Ucar
 //
 // This file is part of Rcpp.
 //
@@ -896,3 +897,10 @@ double NumericVector_test_out_of_bounds_read(NumericVector v, R_xlen_t i) {
 SEXP CharacterVector_test_out_of_bounds_read(CharacterVector v, R_xlen_t i) {
     return v[i];
 }
+
+// [[Rcpp::export]]
+NumericVector vec_copy(NumericVector vec1) {
+    NumericVector vec2(vec1.size());
+    std::copy(vec1.begin(), vec1.end(), vec2.begin());
+    return vec2;
+}
diff --git a/inst/tinytest/test_vector.R b/inst/tinytest/test_vector.R
index e8138e24e..a062fba23 100644
--- a/inst/tinytest/test_vector.R
+++ b/inst/tinytest/test_vector.R
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 
-##  Copyright (C) 2010 - 2019  Dirk Eddelbuettel and Romain Francois
+##  Copyright (C) 2010 - 2025  Dirk Eddelbuettel and Romain François
+##  Copyright (C) 2026         Dirk Eddelbuettel, Romain François and Iñaki Ucar
 ##
 ##  This file is part of Rcpp.
 ##
@@ -702,3 +703,8 @@ expect_true( !CharacterVector_test_equality_crosspolicy("foo", "bar") )
 #expect_warning(CharacterVector_test_out_of_bounds_read(character(0), 0))
 #expect_warning(CharacterVector_test_out_of_bounds_read(character(1), 1))
 
+
+# https://github.com/RcppCore/Rcpp/issues/1461
+expect_equal(vec_copy(as.numeric(1:10)), as.numeric(1:10))
+expect_equal(vec_copy(numeric(0)), numeric(0))
+