diff --git a/libr/core/cmd_search.c b/libr/core/cmd_search.c
index 4bf4cf3898..7d2207161a 100644
--- a/libr/core/cmd_search.c
+++ b/libr/core/cmd_search.c
@@ -4866,14 +4866,21 @@ again:
 			eprintf ("Usage: /z min max\n");
 			break;
 		}
+		const char *maxstr = NULL;
 		if ((p = strchr (input + 2, ' '))) {
 			*p = 0;
-			max = r_num_math (core->num, p + 1);
+			maxstr = r_str_trim_head_ro (p + 1);
+			max = r_num_math (core->num, maxstr);
 		} else {
 			eprintf ("Usage: /z min max\n");
 			break;
 		}
-		min = r_num_math (core->num, input + 2);
+		const char *minstr = r_str_trim_head_ro (input + 2);
+		if ((maxstr && *maxstr == '-') || (minstr && *minstr == '-')) {
+			R_LOG_ERROR ("min and max must be positive");
+			break;
+		}
+		min = r_num_math (core->num, minstr);
 		if (!r_search_set_string_limits (core->search, min, max)) {
 			R_LOG_ERROR ("min must be lower than max");
 			break;
diff --git a/test/fuzz/fuzz_cmd.c b/test/fuzz/fuzz_cmd.c
index f4ef1c8611..096fd24216 100644
--- a/test/fuzz/fuzz_cmd.c
+++ b/test/fuzz/fuzz_cmd.c
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ int LLVMFuzzerTestOneInput(const uint8_t *Data, size_t Size) {
 		return 0;
 	}
 
+	r_core_cmd0 (r, "e scr.interactive=false");
 	// r_core_cmdf (r, "o malloc://%zu", Size);
 	// r_io_write_at (r->io, 0, Data, Size);
 	r_core_cmd0 (r, "o /bin/ls");