Between 2019 and 2022, the annual number of reported memory safety issues in Android has dropped from 223 to 85, due to an increase in the amount of memory-safe code entering the mobile platform, and the trend is expected to continue.

Memory safety bugs, Google notes, are typically the most severe type of vulnerabilities. In 2022, they accounted for 86% of the critical-severity flaws in Android and for 89% of the remotely exploitable issues.

“Over the past few years, memory safety vulnerabilities have accounted for 78% of confirmed exploited ‘in-the-wild’ vulnerabilities on Android devices,” the internet giant explains.