midnight commander segfaults when switching the left panel to info mode as the first action after launching

Steps to reproduce on Slackware 15.0:

1. run mc from xterm/urxvt
2. open 'Left' menu (using keyboard or mouse)
3. pick the 'Info' menu item (using keyboard or mouse)
4. Segmentation fault

Issue does not seem to be present on Slackware -current.

I found this seemingly related ticket on their website:
https://midnight-commander.org/ticket/3700

The following commit (fix) is referenced in the discussion on the ticket linked above:
https://github.com/MidnightCommander...626f1f0213086d