Good question.
Hard question to answer absolutely.
There is a temperature range through which foods can be allowed to stay at for a limited amount of time---and then you can have a real problem with bacteria multiplication and potential food poisoning.
Here is one site that states unequivocally that all marinating must be done in the refrigerator.
https://whatscookingamerica.net/MarinatingSafely.htm
Here is another which has some good advice and a lot of opinions. This site gives a lot of what I would call "common sense" answers; and I tend to agree with them. "Common sense" is usually good enough to prevent food poisoning.
https://www.chowhound.com/post/refrigerate-order-marinate-655587
Until you gain some experience, I would tend to eerr on the side of caution, however.