Google shoehorned Rust into Pixel 10 modem to make legacy code safer
Summary
Google has added a memory-safe Rust-based component to the Pixel 10 modem by integrating the hickory-proto DNS library to harden DNS parsing against memory-safety vulnerabilities. The change avoids re-architecting decades of C/C++ modem code and instead grafts a 371KB Rust component onto the existing baseband, leveraging Rust's borrow checker for compile-time safety. While this demonstrates a practical path to safer embedded modems, Google notes potential size and modularity limits for simpler devices, and broader adoption would depend on performance and compatibility implications.