diff --git a/tests/testDriver_status_formatting.c b/tests/testDriver_status_formatting.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5ca2520
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/testDriver_status_formatting.c
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+/*
+ * Copyright IBM Corp. 2024
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+#include "testsupport.h"
+
+#include <string.h>
+
+/*
+ * Regression coverage for a previously unsafe format-string prefixing
+ * implementation in set_zdnn_status().
+ *
+ * What this test protects:
+ * - Passing a very long `format` string into set_zdnn_status() must not
+ *   overflow internal buffers.
+ * - The emitted log should still contain the ZDNN status string prefix.
+ */
+
+void setUp(void) {}
+void tearDown(void) {}
+
+void test_long_format_is_safe(void) {
+  // A format string longer than MAX_STATUS_FMTSTR_SIZE.
+  // No '%' specifiers: we want a pure string-copy path through vsnprintf.
+  char long_format[4096];
+  memset(long_format, 'A', sizeof(long_format) - 1);
+  long_format[sizeof(long_format) - 1] = '\0';
+
+  char buf_stderr[BUFSIZ] = {0};
+
+  stderr_to_pipe();
+  zdnn_status st = set_zdnn_status(ZDNN_INVALID_SHAPE, __func__, __FILE__,
+                                  __LINE__, long_format);
+  restore_stderr(buf_stderr, BUFSIZ);
+
+  TEST_ASSERT_EQUAL_UINT32_MESSAGE(ZDNN_INVALID_SHAPE, st,
+                                  "Unexpected status returned");
+
+  // Ensure we did not lose the status prefix.
+  TEST_ASSERT_NOT_NULL_MESSAGE(strstr(buf_stderr, "ZDNN_INVALID_SHAPE"),
+                               "Expected status string not found in stderr");
+}
+
+int main(void) {
+  UNITY_BEGIN();
+
+  RUN_TEST(test_long_format_is_safe);
+
+  return UNITY_END();
+}
diff --git a/zdnn/status.c b/zdnn/status.c
index 550e835..334dbe7 100644
--- a/zdnn/status.c
+++ b/zdnn/status.c
@@ -298,11 +298,15 @@ zdnn_status set_zdnn_status(zdnn_status status, const char *func_name,
     va_list argptr;
     va_start(argptr, format);
 
-    // prepend status string "ZDNN_XXX: " to the incoming "format" string
+    // Prepend status string "ZDNN_XXX: " to the incoming format string.
+    //
+    // NOTE: `format` itself is a printf-style format string which will be
+    // consumed later by log_message()/vsnprintf using `argptr`. We must *not*
+    // interpret any '%' sequences here; we only want to build a new format
+    // string with a safe bounded write.
     char full_fmtstr[MAX_STATUS_FMTSTR_SIZE];
-    snprintf(full_fmtstr, MAX_STATUS_FMTSTR_SIZE,
-             "%s: ", get_status_str(status));
-    strncat(full_fmtstr, format, MAX_STATUS_FMTSTR_SIZE - 1);
+    (void)snprintf(full_fmtstr, sizeof(full_fmtstr), "%s: %s",
+                   get_status_str(status), format);
 
     // "full_fmtstr" is now concatenated
     log_message(lvl_to_use, func_name, file_name, line_no, full_fmtstr, argptr);