diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ya/yarp/0001-format-security.patch b/pkgs/by-name/ya/yarp/0001-format-security.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..dc5e55f8712e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ya/yarp/0001-format-security.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+diff --git i/src/libYARP_companion/src/yarp/companion/impl/Companion.cmdSplit.cpp w/src/libYARP_companion/src/yarp/companion/impl/Companion.cmdSplit.cpp
+index a9024cb03..f4860ac62 100644
+--- i/src/libYARP_companion/src/yarp/companion/impl/Companion.cmdSplit.cpp
++++ w/src/libYARP_companion/src/yarp/companion/impl/Companion.cmdSplit.cpp
+@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ int Companion::cmdSplit(int argc, char *argv[])
+             inData->mutex.unlock();
+             if (siz != 0)
+             {
+-                yCInfo(COMPANION, std::string("Received a Bottle of "+std::to_string(siz)+" elements.").c_str());
++                yCInfo(COMPANION, "Received a Bottle of %z elements.", siz);
+                 outPort = new BufferedPort<Bottle> [siz];
+                 for (size_t i = 0; i < siz; i++)
+                 {
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ya/yarp/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/ya/yarp/package.nix
index f14e40f931fa..71ef9b5dfc53 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/ya/yarp/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ya/yarp/package.nix
@@ -4,20 +4,30 @@
   fetchFromGitHub,
   cmake,
   ace,
+  ycm-cmake-modules,
+  nix-update-script,
 }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   pname = "yarp";
-  version = "2.3.70.2";
+  version = "3.12.1";
   src = fetchFromGitHub {
     owner = "robotology";
     repo = "yarp";
     rev = "v${version}";
-    sha256 = "0mphh899niy30xbjjwi9xpsliq8mladfldbbbjfngdrqfhiray1a";
+    hash = "sha256-6PyXMEUh0ENsRjbsXbwDr4ZqAulw8rgY5G0l/RewWys=";
   };
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [ cmake ];
-  buildInputs = [ ace ];
+  buildInputs = [
+    ace
+    ycm-cmake-modules
+  ];
+
+  patches = [
+    # Weird string interpolation causes compilation to fail due to -Wformat-security.
+    ./0001-format-security.patch
+  ];
 
   cmakeFlags = [
     "-DYARP_COMPILE_UNMAINTAINED:BOOL=ON"
@@ -28,6 +38,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   postInstall = "mv ./$out/lib/*.so $out/lib/";
 
+  passthru.updateScript = nix-update-script { };
+
   meta = {
     description = "Yet Another Robot Platform";
     homepage = "http://yarp.it";