diff --git a/src/uucore/src/lib/features/format/spec.rs b/src/uucore/src/lib/features/format/spec.rs
index 1af75ae94d4..a976f9c6b1d 100644
--- a/src/uucore/src/lib/features/format/spec.rs
+++ b/src/uucore/src/lib/features/format/spec.rs
@@ -511,7 +511,10 @@ fn resolve_asterisk_width(
         Some(CanAsterisk::Asterisk(loc)) => {
             let nb = args.next_i64(loc);
             if nb < 0 {
-                Some((usize::try_from(-(nb as isize)).ok().unwrap_or(0), true))
+                // `nb.unsigned_abs()` computes the magnitude in unsigned
+                // arithmetic, so `i64::MIN` (whose magnitude 2^63 overflows
+                // `i64`) does not panic here.
+                Some((usize::try_from(nb.unsigned_abs()).ok().unwrap_or(0), true))
             } else {
                 Some((usize::try_from(nb).ok().unwrap_or(0), false))
             }
@@ -670,6 +673,27 @@ mod tests {
                 )
             );
         }
+
+        #[test]
+        fn asterisk_i64_min_width() {
+            // Regression test for https://github.com/uutils/coreutils/issues/13766
+            // |i64::MIN| = 2^63 is not representable in i64, so computing the
+            // magnitude of a negative `*` width used to panic ("attempt to negate
+            // with overflow"). It must be computed in unsigned arithmetic.
+            let expected = usize::try_from(i64::MIN.unsigned_abs()).unwrap_or(0);
+            for arg in [
+                FormatArgument::SignedInt(i64::MIN),
+                FormatArgument::Unparsed(i64::MIN.to_string().into()),
+            ] {
+                assert_eq!(
+                    Some((expected, true)),
+                    resolve_asterisk_width(
+                        Some(CanAsterisk::Asterisk(ArgumentLocation::NextArgument)),
+                        &mut FormatArguments::new(&[arg]),
+                    )
+                );
+            }
+        }
     }
 
     mod resolve_asterisk_precision {
diff --git a/tests/by-util/test_printf.rs b/tests/by-util/test_printf.rs
index fda7f7d158e..e3d969ca307 100644
--- a/tests/by-util/test_printf.rs
+++ b/tests/by-util/test_printf.rs
@@ -1538,6 +1538,26 @@ fn test_extreme_field_width_overflow() {
         .stderr_contains("printf: write error"); //could contains additional message like "formatting width too large" not in GNU, thats fine.
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn test_asterisk_width_i64_min_no_panic() {
+    // Regression test for https://github.com/uutils/coreutils/issues/13766
+    // A negative `*` width argument of `i64::MIN` used to panic with "attempt to
+    // negate with overflow" while computing the magnitude. |i64::MIN| = 2^63 is
+    // not representable in `i64`, so the magnitude is computed in unsigned
+    // arithmetic. On 64-bit targets the resulting width exceeds the maximum
+    // format width and printf reports a write error (exit 1); on 32-bit targets
+    // the magnitude does not fit `usize` and is clamped to 0, so printf succeeds
+    // (exit 0). In all cases printf must exit cleanly rather than panic.
+    let result = new_ucmd!()
+        .args(&["|%*d|", &i64::MIN.to_string(), "1"])
+        .run();
+    assert!(
+        result.succeeded() || result.code() == 1,
+        "printf must not panic on an i64::MIN '*' width (got exit code {})",
+        result.code()
+    );
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn test_q_string_control_chars_with_quotes() {
     // Test %q with control characters and single quotes combined.