diff --git a/src/cmd/go/internal/cache/cache.go b/src/cmd/go/internal/cache/cache.go
index e717503707f17d..98bed2a595e1ba 100644
--- a/src/cmd/go/internal/cache/cache.go
+++ b/src/cmd/go/internal/cache/cache.go
@@ -314,8 +314,8 @@ func GetMmap(c Cache, id ActionID) ([]byte, Entry, error) {
 // OutputFile returns the name of the cache file storing output with the given OutputID.
 func (c *DiskCache) OutputFile(out OutputID) string {
 	file := c.fileName(out, "d")
-	isExecutable := c.markUsed(file)
-	if isExecutable {
+	isDir := c.markUsed(file)
+	if isDir { // => cached executable
 		entries, err := os.ReadDir(file)
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Sprintf("DO NOT USE - missing binary cache entry: %v", err)
@@ -357,12 +357,14 @@ const (
 // while still keeping the mtimes useful for cache trimming.
 //
 // markUsed reports whether the file is a directory (an executable cache entry).
-func (c *DiskCache) markUsed(file string) (isExecutable bool) {
+func (c *DiskCache) markUsed(file string) (isDir bool) {
 	info, err := os.Stat(file)
-	if err == nil && c.now().Sub(info.ModTime()) < mtimeInterval {
-		return info.IsDir()
+	if err != nil {
+		return false
+	}
+	if now := c.now(); now.Sub(info.ModTime()) >= mtimeInterval {
+		os.Chtimes(file, now, now)
 	}
-	os.Chtimes(file, c.now(), c.now())
 	return info.IsDir()
 }
 
diff --git a/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/list_issue_70600.txt b/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/list_issue_70600.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..8da61e5016ca46
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/list_issue_70600.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+# Test that the go command does not panic if it tries to read
+# a file from the cache that has an index entry, but is missing
+# an entry for the output. This test creates that situation by
+# running a go list (creating index and output cache entries for
+# the module index) and then removing just the output entries.
+
+[short] skip 'runs go build'
+
+go build -o roe$GOEXE ./remove_output_entries.go
+
+# populate new cache
+env GOCACHE=$WORK/newcache
+go list runtime
+
+# remove output entries and check the panic doesn't happen
+exec ./roe$GOEXE $WORK/newcache
+go list runtime
+
+-- remove_output_entries.go --
+package main
+
+import (
+	"io/fs"
+	"log"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+func main() {
+	cachedir := os.Args[1]
+	err := filepath.WalkDir(cachedir, func(path string, d fs.DirEntry, err error) error {
+		if strings.HasSuffix(path, "-d") { // output entries end in "-d"
+			if err := os.RemoveAll(path); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+		}
+		return nil
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Fatal(err)
+	}
+}
\ No newline at end of file