diff --git a/src/fix_wall.cpp b/src/fix_wall.cpp
index f7293ffd06..4c4406a34c 100644
--- a/src/fix_wall.cpp
+++ b/src/fix_wall.cpp
@@ -105,9 +105,11 @@ FixWall::FixWall(LAMMPS *lmp, int narg, char **arg) : Fix(lmp, narg, arg), nwall
       }
 
       if (utils::strmatch(style, "^wall/lepton")) {
+        estyle[nwall] = sstyle[nwall] = CONSTANT;
         lstr[nwall] = utils::strdup(arg[iarg + 2]);
         cutoff[nwall] = utils::numeric(FLERR, arg[iarg + 3], false, lmp);
       } else if (utils::strmatch(style, "^wall/table")) {
+        estyle[nwall] = sstyle[nwall] = CONSTANT;
         fstr[nwall] = utils::strdup(arg[iarg + 2]);
         kstr[nwall] = utils::strdup(arg[iarg + 3]);
         cutoff[nwall] = utils::numeric(FLERR, arg[iarg + 4], false, lmp);
diff --git a/src/fix_wall_table.cpp b/src/fix_wall_table.cpp
index c44864a7bd..dc1dda4504 100644
--- a/src/fix_wall_table.cpp
+++ b/src/fix_wall_table.cpp
@@ -90,8 +90,13 @@ void FixWallTable::precompute(int m)
 {
   double u, mdu;
 
+  // always use linear interpolation to determine the offset, since we may be at the
+  // outer table cutoff and spline interpolation would cause out-of-bounds array accesses
+  int savedtabstyle = tabstyle;
+  tabstyle = LINEAR;
   uf_lookup(m, cutoff[m], u, mdu);
   offset[m] = u;
+  tabstyle = savedtabstyle;
 }
 
 /* ----------------------------------------------------------------------