diff --git a/fuzzers/others/libafl-fuzz/Makefile.toml b/fuzzers/others/libafl-fuzz/Makefile.toml
index 1e2fdd3c1d..868ed12e00 100644
--- a/fuzzers/others/libafl-fuzz/Makefile.toml
+++ b/fuzzers/others/libafl-fuzz/Makefile.toml
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ FUZZER = '${CARGO_TARGET_DIR}/${PROFILE_DIR}/${FUZZER_NAME}'
 LLVM_CONFIG = { value = "llvm-config-18", condition = { env_not_set = [
   "LLVM_CONFIG",
 ] } }
-AFL_VERSION = "db23931e7c1727ddac8691a6241c97b2203ec6fc"
+AFL_VERSION = "598a3c6b5e24bd33e84b914e145810d39f88adf6"
 AFL_DIR = { value = "./AFLplusplus" }
 AFL_CC_PATH = { value = "${AFL_DIR}/afl-clang-fast" }
 CC = { value = "clang" }
@@ -39,6 +39,16 @@ cd ${AFL_DIR}/qemu_mode
 cd ../..
 '''
 dependencies = ["build_afl"]
+
+[tasks.build_unicorn_mode]
+script_runner = "@shell"
+script = '''
+cd ${AFL_DIR}/unicorn_mode
+./build_unicorn_support.sh
+cd ../..
+'''
+dependencies = ["build_afl"]
+
 # Test
 [tasks.test]
 linux_alias = "test_unix"
@@ -54,6 +64,7 @@ dependencies = [
   "test_cmplog",
   "test_frida",
   "test_qemu",
+  "test_unicorn_mode",
 ]
 
 [tasks.build_libafl_fuzz]
@@ -115,20 +126,20 @@ export AFL_PATH=${AFL_DIR}
 export AFL_CORES=1 
 export AFL_STATS_INTERVAL=1 
 
-timeout 5 ${FUZZER} -m 0 -V07 -O -i ./test/seeds_frida -o ./test/output-frida -- ./test/out-frida || true
+timeout 5 ${FUZZER} -m 0  -O -i ./test/seeds_frida -o ./test/output-frida -- ./test/out-frida || true
 test -n "$( ls ./test/output-frida/fuzzer_main/queue/id:000002* 2>/dev/null )" || {
 	echo "No new corpus entries found for FRIDA mode"
 	exit 1
 }
 
 ${CC} ./test/test-cmpcov.c -o ./test/out-frida-cmpcov
-AFL_FRIDA_VERBOSE=1 timeout 10 ${FUZZER} -m 0 -V07 -O -c 0 -l 3 -i ./test/seeds_frida -o ./test/output-frida-cmpcov -- ./test/out-frida-cmpcov || true
+AFL_FRIDA_VERBOSE=1 timeout 10 ${FUZZER} -m 0  -O -c 0 -l 3 -i ./test/seeds_frida -o ./test/output-frida-cmpcov -- ./test/out-frida-cmpcov || true
 test -n "$( ls ./test/output-frida-cmpcov/fuzzer_main/queue/id:000003* 2>/dev/null )" || {
 	echo "No new corpus entries found for FRIDA cmplog mode"
 	exit 1
 }
 export AFL_FRIDA_PERSISTENT_ADDR=0x`nm ./test/out-frida | grep -Ei "T _main|T main" | awk '{print $1}'`
-timeout 5 ${FUZZER} -m 0 -V07 -O -i ./test/seeds_frida -o ./test/output-frida-persistent -- ./test/out-frida || true
+timeout 5 ${FUZZER} -m 0  -O -i ./test/seeds_frida -o ./test/output-frida-persistent -- ./test/out-frida || true
 
 test -n "$( ls ./test/output-frida-persistent/fuzzer_main/queue/id:000002* 2>/dev/null )" || {
 	echo "No new corpus entries found for FRIDA persistent mode"
@@ -163,14 +174,14 @@ export AFL_PATH=${AFL_DIR}
 export AFL_CORES=1
 export AFL_STATS_INTERVAL=1
 
-timeout 5 ${FUZZER} -m 0 -V07 -Q -i ./test/seeds_qemu -o ./test/output-qemu -- ./test/out-qemu || true
+timeout 5 ${FUZZER} -m 0  -Q -i ./test/seeds_qemu -o ./test/output-qemu -- ./test/out-qemu || true
 test -n "$( ls ./test/output-qemu/fuzzer_main/queue/id:000002* 2>/dev/null )" || {
 	echo "No new corpus entries found for QEMU mode"
 	exit 1
 }
 
 export AFL_ENTRYPOINT=`printf 1 | AFL_DEBUG=1 ${AFL_DIR}/afl-qemu-trace ./test/out-qemu 2>&1 >/dev/null | awk '/forkserver/{print $4; exit}'`
-timeout 5 ${FUZZER} -m 0 -V2 -Q -i ./test/seeds_qemu -o ./test/output-qemu-entrypoint -- ./test/out-qemu || true
+timeout 5 ${FUZZER} -m 0  -Q -i ./test/seeds_qemu -o ./test/output-qemu-entrypoint -- ./test/out-qemu || true
 test -n "$( ls ./test/output-qemu-entrypoint/fuzzer_main/queue/id:000002* 2>/dev/null )" || {
 	echo "No new corpus entries found for QEMU mode with AFL_ENTRYPOINT"
 	exit 1
@@ -179,7 +190,7 @@ unset AFL_ENTRYPOINT
 
 export AFL_PRELOAD=${AFL_DIR}/libcompcov.so
 export AFL_COMPCOV_LEVEL=2
-timeout 5 ${FUZZER} -V07 -Q -i ./test/seeds_qemu -o ./test/output-qemu-cmpcov -- ./test/out-qemu-cmpcov || true
+timeout 5 ${FUZZER}  -Q -i ./test/seeds_qemu -o ./test/output-qemu-cmpcov -- ./test/out-qemu-cmpcov || true
 test -n "$( ls ./test/output-qemu-cmpcov/fuzzer_main/queue/id:000002* 2>/dev/null )" || {
 	echo "No new corpus entries found for QEMU mode"
 	exit 1
@@ -187,6 +198,27 @@ test -n "$( ls ./test/output-qemu-cmpcov/fuzzer_main/queue/id:000002* 2>/dev/nul
 '''
 dependencies = ["build_afl", "build_qemuafl", "build_libafl_fuzz"]
 
+[tasks.test_unicorn_mode]
+script_runner = "@shell"
+script = '''
+export AFL_PATH=${AFL_DIR}
+export AFL_CORES=1
+export AFL_STATS_INTERVAL=1
+# TODO: test unicorn persistent mode once it's fixed on AFL++
+LIBAFL_DEBUG_OUTPUT=1 AFL_DEBUG=1 AFL_DEBUG_CHILD=1 timeout 15s ${FUZZER} -m 0 -U -i ./test/seeds_unicorn -o ./test/output-unicorn-python -- python3 ${AFL_DIR}/unicorn_mode/samples/python_simple/simple_test_harness.py @@ || true
+test -n "$( ls ./test/output-unicorn-python/fuzzer_main/queue/id:000003* 2>/dev/null )" || {
+	echo "No new corpus entries found for Unicorn python3 mode"
+	exit 1
+}
+export AFL_COMPCOV_LEVEL=2
+LIBAFL_DEBUG_OUTPUT=1 AFL_DEBUG=1 AFL_DEBUG_CHILD=1 timeout 15s ${FUZZER} -m 0 -U -i ./test/seeds_unicorn_cmpcov -o ./test/output-unicorn-cmpcov -- python3 ${AFL_DIR}/unicorn_mode/samples/compcov_x64/compcov_test_harness.py @@ || true
+test -n "$( ls ./test/output-unicorn-cmpcov/fuzzer_main/queue/id:000002* 2>/dev/null )" || {
+	echo "No new corpus entries found for Unicorn cmpcov mode"
+	exit 1
+}
+'''
+dependencies = ["build_libafl_fuzz", "build_afl", "build_unicorn_mode"]
+
 [tasks.clean]
 linux_alias = "clean_unix"
 mac_alias = "clean_unix"
@@ -196,11 +228,11 @@ windows_alias = "unsupported"
 script_runner = "@shell"
 script = '''
 rm -rf AFLplusplus
-rm -rf ./test/out-instr
 rm -rf ./test/output
 rm -rf ./test/cmplog-output
 rm -rf ./test/output-frida*
 rm -rf ./test/output-cmplog
 rm -rf ./test/output-qemu*
+rm -rf ./test/output-unicorn*
 rm ./test/out-*
 '''
diff --git a/fuzzers/others/libafl-fuzz/src/fuzzer.rs b/fuzzers/others/libafl-fuzz/src/fuzzer.rs
index dce415b7d4..2da969cb0b 100644
--- a/fuzzers/others/libafl-fuzz/src/fuzzer.rs
+++ b/fuzzers/others/libafl-fuzz/src/fuzzer.rs
@@ -53,7 +53,8 @@ use crate::{
     },
     scheduler::SupportedSchedulers,
     stages::{mutational_stage::SupportedMutationalStages, time_tracker::TimeTrackingStageWrapper},
-    Opt, AFL_DEFAULT_INPUT_LEN_MAX, AFL_DEFAULT_INPUT_LEN_MIN, SHMEM_ENV_VAR,
+    Opt, AFL_DEFAULT_INPUT_LEN_MAX, AFL_DEFAULT_INPUT_LEN_MIN, AFL_HARNESS_FILE_INPUT,
+    SHMEM_ENV_VAR,
 };
 
 pub type LibaflFuzzState =
@@ -234,7 +235,7 @@ where
     }
 
     // Create the base Executor
-    let mut executor = base_executor(opt, &mut shmem_provider);
+    let mut executor = base_executor(opt, &mut shmem_provider, fuzzer_dir)?;
     // Set a custom exit code to be interpreted as a Crash if configured.
     if let Some(crash_exitcode) = opt.crash_exitcode {
         executor = executor.crash_exitcode(crash_exitcode);
@@ -245,24 +246,6 @@ where
         executor = executor.autotokens(&mut tokens);
     };
 
-    // Set a custom directory for the current_input file if configured;
-    // Relevant only if harness input type is @@
-    if opt.harness_input_type.is_some() {
-        let mut file = get_unique_std_input_file();
-        if let Some(ext) = &opt.input_ext {
-            file = format!("{file}.{ext}");
-        }
-        if let Some(cur_input_dir) = &opt.cur_input_dir {
-            executor = executor.arg_input_file(cur_input_dir.join(file));
-        } else {
-            executor = executor.arg_input_file(fuzzer_dir.join(file));
-        }
-    } else if opt.cur_input_dir.is_some() {
-        return Err(Error::illegal_argument(
-            "cannot use AFL_TMPDIR with stdin input type.",
-        ));
-    }
-
     // Finalize and build our Executor
     let mut executor = executor
         .build(tuple_list!(time_observer, edges_observer))
@@ -339,7 +322,7 @@ where
 
         // Create the CmpLog executor.
         // Cmplog has 25% execution overhead so we give it double the timeout
-        let cmplog_executor = base_executor(opt, &mut shmem_provider)
+        let cmplog_executor = base_executor(opt, &mut shmem_provider, fuzzer_dir)?
             .timeout(Duration::from_millis(opt.hang_timeout * 2))
             .program(cmplog_executable_path)
             .build(tuple_list!(cmplog_observer))
@@ -410,7 +393,8 @@ where
 fn base_executor<'a>(
     opt: &'a Opt,
     shmem_provider: &'a mut StdShMemProvider,
-) -> ForkserverExecutorBuilder<'a, StdShMemProvider> {
+    fuzzer_dir: &PathBuf,
+) -> Result<ForkserverExecutorBuilder<'a, StdShMemProvider>, Error> {
     let mut executor = ForkserverExecutor::builder()
         .program(opt.executable.clone())
         .coverage_map_size(opt.map_size.unwrap_or(AFL_DEFAULT_MAP_SIZE))
@@ -429,24 +413,40 @@ fn base_executor<'a>(
     if opt.is_persistent || opt.qemu_mode {
         executor = executor.shmem_provider(shmem_provider);
     }
-    if let Some(harness_input_type) = &opt.harness_input_type {
-        executor = executor.parse_afl_cmdline([harness_input_type]);
+    // Set arguments for the target if necessary
+    let exec = opt.executable.display().to_string();
+    // we skip all libafl-fuzz arguments.
+    let (mut skip, _) = env::args()
+        .enumerate()
+        .find(|i| i.1 == exec)
+        .expect("invariant; should never occur");
+    // we need the binary to remain as an argument if we are in qemu_mode
+    if !opt.qemu_mode {
+        skip += 1;
+    }
+    let args = env::args().skip(skip);
+    for arg in args {
+        if arg == AFL_HARNESS_FILE_INPUT {
+            let mut file = get_unique_std_input_file();
+            if let Some(ext) = &opt.input_ext {
+                file = format!("{file}.{ext}");
+            }
+            if let Some(cur_input_dir) = &opt.cur_input_dir {
+                executor = executor.arg_input_file(cur_input_dir.join(file));
+            } else {
+                executor = executor.arg_input_file(fuzzer_dir.join(file));
+            }
+        } else {
+            executor = executor.arg(arg);
+        }
     }
     if opt.qemu_mode {
-        let exec = opt.executable.display().to_string();
         executor = executor.program(
             find_afl_binary("afl-qemu-trace", Some(opt.executable.clone()))
                 .expect("to find afl-qemu-trace"),
         );
-        // we skip all libafl-fuzz arguments.
-        let (skip, _) = env::args()
-            .enumerate()
-            .find(|i| i.1 == exec)
-            .expect("invariant; should never occur");
-        let args = env::args().skip(skip);
-        executor = executor.args(args);
     }
-    executor
+    Ok(executor)
 }
 
 pub fn fuzzer_target_mode(opt: &Opt) -> Cow<'static, str> {
diff --git a/fuzzers/others/libafl-fuzz/src/main.rs b/fuzzers/others/libafl-fuzz/src/main.rs
index 3bcb8098d9..69960a9b9a 100644
--- a/fuzzers/others/libafl-fuzz/src/main.rs
+++ b/fuzzers/others/libafl-fuzz/src/main.rs
@@ -112,9 +112,6 @@ fn main() {
 struct Opt {
     executable: PathBuf,
 
-    #[arg(value_parser = validate_harness_input_stdin)]
-    harness_input_type: Option<&'static str>,
-
     // NOTE: afl-fuzz does not accept multiple input directories
     #[arg(short = 'i')]
     input_dir: PathBuf,
@@ -258,13 +255,6 @@ struct Opt {
     non_instrumented_mode: bool,
 }
 
-fn validate_harness_input_stdin(s: &str) -> Result<&'static str, String> {
-    if s != "@@" {
-        return Err("Unknown harness input type. Use \"@@\" for file, omit for stdin ".to_string());
-    }
-    Ok(AFL_HARNESS_FILE_INPUT)
-}
-
 #[allow(dead_code)]
 #[derive(Debug, Clone)]
 pub struct CmplogOpts {