diff --git a/CHANGES.rst b/CHANGES.rst
index ad6d698341a..03d4695f936 100644
--- a/CHANGES.rst
+++ b/CHANGES.rst
@@ -13,6 +13,11 @@ Bugs fixed
   English stemmer) and Dutch (which uses the Dutch Porter stemmer).
   Patch by Hugo van Kemenade
 
+* #14576: autodoc: Fix ``IndexError`` when an ``autodoc-process-signature``
+  handler supplies a signature for an object that has none to introspect,
+  as ``numpydoc`` does for signatures held only in the docstring.
+  Patch by Eric Larson
+
 
 Release 9.1.0 (released Dec 31, 2025)
 =====================================
diff --git a/sphinx/ext/autodoc/_dynamic/_signatures.py b/sphinx/ext/autodoc/_dynamic/_signatures.py
index de55c44fb9f..9f15430d77b 100644
--- a/sphinx/ext/autodoc/_dynamic/_signatures.py
+++ b/sphinx/ext/autodoc/_dynamic/_signatures.py
@@ -125,7 +125,13 @@ def _format_signatures(
     ):
         if len(result) == 2 and isinstance(result[0], str):
             args, retann = result
-            signatures[0] = (args, retann if isinstance(retann, str) else '')
+            entry = (args, retann if isinstance(retann, str) else '')
+            if signatures:
+                signatures[0] = entry
+            else:
+                # the object had no introspectable signature, but a handler
+                # supplied one (e.g. numpydoc reading it from the docstring)
+                signatures.append(entry)
 
     if props.obj_type in {'module', 'data', 'type'}:
         signatures[1:] = ()  # discard all signatures save the first
diff --git a/tests/test_ext_autodoc/test_ext_autodoc_signatures.py b/tests/test_ext_autodoc/test_ext_autodoc_signatures.py
index f3f87e4d38a..1913d4bdcff 100644
--- a/tests/test_ext_autodoc/test_ext_autodoc_signatures.py
+++ b/tests/test_ext_autodoc/test_ext_autodoc_signatures.py
@@ -289,6 +289,22 @@ def foo1(self, b, *c):  # type: ignore[no-untyped-def]
     assert format_sig('method', 'bar', H.foo1, events=events) == ('42', '')
 
 
+def test_format_signatures_event_handler_without_introspectable_signature() -> None:
+    # an object with no introspectable signature, whose signature is supplied by
+    # a handler instead (as numpydoc does, reading it from the docstring)
+    events = FakeEvents()
+    events.connect('autodoc-process-signature', _process_signature)
+    config = _AutodocConfig(autodoc_docstring_signature=False)
+
+    # without the handler there is no signature at all
+    assert format_sig('function', 'int', int, config=config) == ()
+    # the handler supplies one, which must not be discarded
+    assert format_sig('function', 'bar', int, config=config, events=events) == (
+        '42',
+        '',
+    )
+
+
 def test_format_functools_partial_signatures() -> None:
     # test functions created via functools.partial
     from functools import partial