diff --git a/bundler/bundler_issue607_test.go b/bundler/bundler_issue607_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..bd4aef6c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bundler/bundler_issue607_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+// Copyright 2026 Princess Beef Heavy Industries / Dave Shanley
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
+
+package bundler
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/pb33f/libopenapi/datamodel"
+	"github.com/pb33f/testify/require"
+)
+
+// A $ref that resolves to a sequence node with an odd number of elements used
+// to panic the composed bundler with "index out of range" because the ref
+// walker stepped through the node's content two at a time assuming key/value
+// pairs. Both odd- and even-length arrays must bundle without panicking.
+func TestBundleBytesComposed_RefToOddLengthArray(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, count := range []int{63, 64, 65} {
+		t.Run(fmt.Sprintf("%d-tags", count), func(t *testing.T) {
+			tmpDir := t.TempDir()
+
+			var tags strings.Builder
+			tags.WriteString("tags:\n")
+			for i := 0; i < count; i++ {
+				tags.WriteString(fmt.Sprintf("- name: Tag%d\n  description: d%d\n", i, i))
+			}
+			require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(tmpDir, "tags.yaml"), []byte(tags.String()), 0o644))
+
+			root := `openapi: 3.0.2
+info:
+  title: t
+  version: 1.0.0
+tags:
+  $ref: "tags.yaml#/tags"
+paths:
+  /x:
+    get:
+      responses:
+        "200":
+          description: ok
+`
+			config := datamodel.NewDocumentConfiguration()
+			config.BasePath = tmpDir
+
+			bundled, err := BundleBytesComposed([]byte(root), config, nil)
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+			require.NotEmpty(t, bundled)
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/bundler/composer_functions.go b/bundler/composer_functions.go
index 548d3f7e..fc208a12 100644
--- a/bundler/composer_functions.go
+++ b/bundler/composer_functions.go
@@ -771,6 +771,17 @@ func walkAndRewriteRefs(
 	case yaml.MappingNode:
 		for i := 0; i < len(node.Content); i += 2 {
 			keyNode := node.Content[i]
+
+			// A well-formed mapping always has an even number of content nodes
+			// (key/value pairs). A node whose Kind is MappingNode but whose
+			// content length is odd is malformed (for example a sequence node
+			// that arrived here mis-tagged as a map during ref composition), so
+			// the final key has no value to pair with. Recurse into the dangling
+			// node instead of reading past the end of the slice and panicking.
+			if i+1 >= len(node.Content) {
+				walkAndRewriteRefs(keyNode, sourceIdx, processedNodes, rolodex, inExtension, visited)
+				break
+			}
 			valueNode := node.Content[i+1]
 
 			// Track extension scope