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    This question requires probably a much longer answer than you thought, and some of our hardliners will surely downvote and close-vote it ("needs more focus"). Still, I like it. Commented Jun 14, 2024 at 14:42
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    Of course its possible to write memory-safe C++ code, you just can't prove that the code is safe using the type system. You can use the type system + linters + sanitizers + fuzzing to reduce the likelihood of memory safety issues. One thing that you're missing is that the smart pointers can still be nullptr, and that vector doesn't do bounds checks. I wouldn't think about rewriting, but about adopting security-conscious modern C++ practices, and about investigating safer languages for future components. Commented Jun 14, 2024 at 15:51
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    @JimmyJames. You're right, the remediation needs to make sense to a non-technical audience. There is no immediate consequence of non-compliance, but it can be at some point in future. Commented Jun 14, 2024 at 16:50
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    If someone nontechnical is feeling alarmed or worried about this report and nobody has identified any specific risks to the business/customers/etc, then it sounds like the most important thing is reassurance, stakeholder management and communication. You could counter this by pointing out that having a system built around unsafe code doesn't necessarily mean any imminent risk to the business - especially if that code has already proven itself over years. Commented Jun 14, 2024 at 19:48
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    The key think I would make sure the non-technical stakeholders understand is how disastrously bad it will likely go if you attempted to rewrite the entire application in one shot using another language/platform. If it's decided that a rewrite is needed, the first thing to figure out is how you can do it one piece at a time. Otherwise, you need a mitigation strategy. It might need to be someone's job to implement software security practices. There's a lot of information about the things to look out for with C and C++. Largely because there's a lot to look out for. Commented Jun 14, 2024 at 21:58