https://access.redhat.com/articles/2201201 and https://github.com/git/git/security/advisories/GHSA-4v56-3xv... are interesting examples to consider (though I'm curious whether Rust's integer overflow behavior in release builds would have definitely fared better?).
> Unless the end goal is to rewrite the whole thing in Rust piece by piece, solving hidden memory bugs along the way.
I would assume that's the case.