diff -up aide-0.16/src/db_disk.c.orig aide-0.16/src/db_disk.c
--- aide-0.16/src/db_disk.c.orig	2025-08-21 09:58:21.271581589 +0200
+++ aide-0.16/src/db_disk.c	2025-08-21 10:01:26.310573141 +0200
@@ -139,7 +139,11 @@ void add_child (db_line * fil)
 	int i;
 	struct seltree *new_r;
 
-	error (255, "Adding child %s\n", fil->filename);
+	{
+	char *fname_safe = stresc(fil->filename);
+	error (255, "Adding child %s\n", fname_safe);
+	free(fname_safe);
+	}
 
 	new_r = get_seltree_node (r, fil->filename);
 	if (new_r != NULL) {
@@ -182,9 +186,13 @@ static int get_file_status(char *filenam
     if(sres == -1){
         char* er = strerror(errno);
         if (er == NULL) {
-            error(0,"get_file_status: lstat() failed for %s. strerror() failed for %i\n", filename, errno);
+            char *filename_safe = stresc(filename);
+            error(0,"get_file_status: lstat() failed for %s. strerror() failed for %i\n", filename_safe, errno);
+            free(filename_safe);
         } else {
-            error(0,"get_file_status: lstat() failed for %s: %s\n", filename, er);
+            char *filename_safe = stresc(filename);
+            error(0,"get_file_status: lstat() failed for %s: %s\n", filename_safe, er);
+            free(filename_safe);
         }
     }
     return sres;
@@ -220,7 +228,11 @@ db_line *db_readline_disk ()
 			error (240, "%s attr=%llu\n", &fullname[conf->root_prefix_length], attr);
 
 			if (fil != NULL) {
-				error (240, "%s attr=%llu\n", fil->filename, fil->attr);
+				{
+				char *fname_safe = stresc(fil->filename);
+				error (240, "%s attr=%llu\n", fname_safe, fil->attr);
+				free(fname_safe);
+				}
 				return fil;
 			}
         }
@@ -269,7 +281,11 @@ recursion:
 			error (240, "%s attr=%llu\n", &fullname[conf->root_prefix_length], attr);
 
 			if (fil != NULL) {
-				error (240, "%s attr=%llu\n", fil->filename, fil->attr);
+				{
+				char *fname_safe = stresc(fil->filename);
+				error (240, "%s attr=%llu\n", fname_safe, fil->attr);
+				free(fname_safe);
+				}
 			} else {
 				/*
 				   Something went wrong during read process -> 
diff -up aide-0.16/src/gen_list.c.orig aide-0.16/src/gen_list.c
--- aide-0.16/src/gen_list.c.orig	2025-08-21 09:58:21.273581610 +0200
+++ aide-0.16/src/gen_list.c	2025-08-21 10:04:29.190502666 +0200
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
 #include "list.h"
 #include "gen_list.h"
 #include "seltree.h"
+#include "util.h"
 #include "db.h"
 #include "db_config.h"
 #include "commandconf.h"
@@ -993,16 +994,28 @@ int check_rxtree(char* filename,seltree*
   if(conf->limit!=NULL) {
       retval=pcre_exec(conf->limit_crx, NULL, filename, strlen(filename), 0, PCRE_PARTIAL_SOFT, NULL, 0);
       if (retval >= 0) {
-          error(220, "check_rxtree: %s does match limit: %s\n", filename, conf->limit);
+          char *fname_safe = stresc(filename);
+          char *limit_safe = conf->limit?stresc(conf->limit):NULL;
+          error(220, "check_rxtree: %s does match limit: %s\n", fname_safe, limit_safe?limit_safe:"");
+          free(fname_safe);
+          free(limit_safe);
       } else if (retval == PCRE_ERROR_PARTIAL) {
-          error(220, "check_rxtree: %s does PARTIAL match limit: %s\n", filename, conf->limit);
+          char *fname_safe = stresc(filename);
+          char *limit_safe = conf->limit?stresc(conf->limit):NULL;
+          error(220, "check_rxtree: %s does PARTIAL match limit: %s\n", fname_safe, limit_safe?limit_safe:"");
           if(S_ISDIR(perm) && get_seltree_node(tree,filename)==NULL){
-              error(220, "check_rxtree: creating new seltree node for '%s'\n", filename);
+              error(220, "check_rxtree: creating new seltree node for '%s'\n", fname_safe);
               new_seltree_node(tree,filename,0,NULL);
           }
+          free(fname_safe);
+          free(limit_safe);
           return -1;
       } else {
-          error(220, "check_rxtree: %s does NOT match limit: %s\n", filename, conf->limit);
+          char *fname_safe = stresc(filename);
+          char *limit_safe = conf->limit?stresc(conf->limit):NULL;
+          error(220, "check_rxtree: %s does NOT match limit: %s\n", fname_safe, limit_safe?limit_safe:"");
+          free(fname_safe);
+          free(limit_safe);
           return -2;
       }
   }
@@ -1039,13 +1052,25 @@ db_line* get_file_attrs(char* filename,D
   } else {
     
     if(fs->st_atime>cur_time){
-      error(CLOCK_SKEW,_("%s atime in future\n"),filename);
+      {
+      char *fname_safe = stresc(filename);
+      error(CLOCK_SKEW,_("%s atime in future\n"),fname_safe);
+      free(fname_safe);
+      }
     }
     if(fs->st_mtime>cur_time){
-      error(CLOCK_SKEW,_("%s mtime in future\n"),filename);
+      {
+      char *fname_safe = stresc(filename);
+      error(CLOCK_SKEW,_("%s mtime in future\n"),fname_safe);
+      free(fname_safe);
+      }
     }
     if(fs->st_ctime>cur_time){
-      error(CLOCK_SKEW,_("%s ctime in future\n"),filename);
+      {
+      char *fname_safe = stresc(filename);
+      error(CLOCK_SKEW,_("%s ctime in future\n"),fname_safe);
+      free(fname_safe);
+      }
     }
   }
   
@@ -1220,7 +1245,11 @@ void hsymlnk(db_line* line) {
       int sres;
       sres=AIDE_STAT_FUNC(line->fullpath,&fs);
       if (sres!=0 && sres!=EACCES) {
-	error(4,"Dead symlink detected at %s\n",line->fullpath);
+        {
+        char *fp_safe = stresc(line->fullpath);
+        error(4,"Dead symlink detected at %s\n",fp_safe);
+        free(fp_safe);
+        }
       }
       if(!(line->attr&DB_RDEV))
 	fs.st_rdev=0;
diff -up aide-0.16/src/util.c.orig aide-0.16/src/util.c
--- aide-0.16/src/util.c.orig	2025-08-21 09:58:21.272581600 +0200
+++ aide-0.16/src/util.c	2025-08-21 10:07:50.157894133 +0200
@@ -104,9 +104,11 @@ url_t* parse_url(char* val)
       r+=2;
       for(i=0;r[0]!='/'&&r[0]!='\0';r++,i++);
       if(r[0]=='\0'){
-	error(0,"Invalid file-URL,no path after hostname: file:%s\n",t);
+        char *t_safe = stresc(t);
+        error(0,"Invalid file-URL,no path after hostname: file:%s\n",t_safe);
+        free(t_safe);
         free(hostname);
-	return NULL;
+        return NULL;
       }
       u->value=strdup(r);
       r[0]='\0';
@@ -118,9 +120,11 @@ url_t* parse_url(char* val)
 	free(hostname);
 	break;
       } else {
-	error(0,"Invalid file-URL, cannot use hostname other than localhost or %s: file:%s\n",hostname,u->value);
-	free(hostname);
-	return NULL;
+        char *value_safe = stresc(u->value);
+        error(0,"Invalid file-URL, cannot use hostname other than localhost or %s: file:%s\n",hostname,value_safe);
+        free(value_safe);
+        free(hostname);
+        return NULL;
       }
 
       break;
@@ -150,6 +154,43 @@ url_t* parse_url(char* val)
   return u;
 }
 
+static size_t escape_str(const char *unescaped_str, char *str, size_t s) {
+    size_t n = 0;
+    size_t i = 0;
+    char c;
+    while (i < s && (c = unescaped_str[i])) {
+        if ((c >= 0 && (c < 0x1f || c == 0x7f)) ||
+            (c == '\\' && isdigit(unescaped_str[i+1])
+                       && isdigit(unescaped_str[i+2])
+                       && isdigit(unescaped_str[i+3]))) {
+            if (str) { snprintf(&str[n], 5, "\\%03o", c); }
+            n += 4;
+        } else {
+            if (str) { str[n] = c; }
+            n++;
+        }
+        i++;
+    }
+    if (str) { str[n] = '\0'; }
+    n++;
+    return n;
+}
+
+char *strnesc(const char *unescaped_str, size_t s) {
+    int n = escape_str(unescaped_str, NULL, s);
+    char *str = malloc(n);
+    if (str == NULL) {
+        error(0, "malloc: failed to allocate %d bytes of memory\n", n);
+        exit(1);
+    }
+    escape_str(unescaped_str, str, s);
+    return str;
+}
+
+char *stresc(const char *unescaped_str) {
+    return strnesc(unescaped_str, strlen(unescaped_str));
+}
+
 /* Returns 1 if the string contains unsafe characters, 0 otherwise.  */
 int contains_unsafe (const char *s)
 {