https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=110214
--- Comment #86 from Diego Viola diego.viola@gmail.com --- I found another workaround.
Edit xterm's util.c and change line 2161:
unsigned int h = (unsigned) (nlines * FontHeight(screen));
to:
unsigned int h = (unsigned) (1000);
i.e. increasing the h variable to a large enough number makes it work for some reason.