How Memory Safety CVEs Differ Between Rust and C/C++

Short summary

Rust's memory safety eliminates common C/C++ vulnerabilities (use-after-free, buffer overflow, data races) by design, but the benefit shrinks in practice: 70% of typical projects contain unsafe code, external FFI, or unaudited dependencies that reintroduce C-level risk. The key insight isn't "migrate to Rust" but understanding which vulnerabilities disappear, which persist, and the hidden costs—a detailed checklist beats headline claims.

• •Rust's borrow checker mathematically prevents memory safety bugs, but only in safe code—unsafe blocks, FFI, and unaudited crates reintroduce C-level vulnerabilities
• •Logic bugs, authentication flaws, and business logic vulnerabilities aren't solved by language choice; the compiler's protection scope is narrower than many believe
• •CVE count comparisons mislead without context; applicability depends on your attack surface (memory bugs vs. business logic vs. auth) and capacity to audit unsafe code

Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.