Rust Adoption Drives Android Memory Safety Bugs Below 20% for First Time
For the first time, Google has revealed that the percentage of memory safety vulnerabilities in Android has dropped below 20% of all vulnerabilities as a result of the company's ongoing use of the Rust programming language.
Compared to Android's C and C++ code, Rust has a 1000x lower memory safety vulnerability density, which is why we chose it. But according to Jeff Vander Stoep of Google, the biggest surprise was how Rust affected software delivery. The safer route is now also the quicker one since Rust modifications have a 4x lower reversal rate and require 25% less time for code review.
This comes little over a year after the tech giant revealed that memory safety vulnerabilities decreased from 223 in 2019 to less than 50 in 2024 as a result of switching to Rust.
The company ...