diff --git a/src/corelib/plugin/qplugin.h b/src/corelib/plugin/qplugin.h
index 5f4ef81bb6..35af6205cc 100644
--- a/src/corelib/plugin/qplugin.h
+++ b/src/corelib/plugin/qplugin.h
@@ -199,7 +199,15 @@ template <auto (&PluginMetaData)> class QPluginMetaDataV2
 #  define QT_PLUGIN_METADATAV2_SECTION
     using Payload = StaticPayload;
 #elif defined(Q_OF_ELF)
-#  define QT_PLUGIN_METADATAV2_SECTION      __attribute__((section(".note.qt.metadata"), used, aligned(alignof(void*))))
+#  ifdef Q_CC_CLANG
+// the metadata section doesn't work well with clang's sanitizer - QTBUG-97941
+#        define QT_PLUGIN_METADATAV2_SECTION                                                       \
+            __attribute__((section(".note.qt.metadata"), used, aligned(alignof(void *)),           \
+                           no_sanitize("address")))
+#  else
+#        define QT_PLUGIN_METADATAV2_SECTION                                                       \
+            __attribute__((section(".note.qt.metadata"), used, aligned(alignof(void *))))
+#  endif
     using Payload = ElfNotePayload;
 #else
 #  define QT_PLUGIN_METADATAV2_SECTION      QT_PLUGIN_METADATA_SECTION
diff --git a/tests/auto/corelib/plugin/qpluginloader/fakeplugin.cpp b/tests/auto/corelib/plugin/qpluginloader/fakeplugin.cpp
index 6d758f23c9..c1b939bf3e 100644
--- a/tests/auto/corelib/plugin/qpluginloader/fakeplugin.cpp
+++ b/tests/auto/corelib/plugin/qpluginloader/fakeplugin.cpp
@@ -50,7 +50,9 @@ static constexpr bool IsDebug = false;
 #endif
 
 #if defined(__ELF__) && PLUGIN_VERSION >= 1
-__attribute__((section(".note.qt.metadata"), used, aligned(4)))
+// GCC will produce:
+// fakeplugin.cpp:64:3: warning: ‘no_sanitize_address’ attribute ignored [-Wattributes]
+__attribute__((section(".note.qt.metadata"), used, no_sanitize("address"), aligned(sizeof(void*))))
 static const struct {
     unsigned n_namesz = sizeof(name);
     unsigned n_descsz = sizeof(payload);