With memory-safety flaws accounting for 70% of modern security vulnerabilities, legacy software architectures are no longer sufficient to protect against sophisticated threats.¹

That’s why the world is looking to Rust. A programming language engineered from the ground up for memory safety and high performance, Rust is laying the groundwork for a more stable and secure hardware-to-software interface that can scale alongside the global PC and IoT market.

Microsoft is embracing this change through its Open Device Partnership (ODP) and Windows Silicon & Systems Integration (WSSI) teams. Collaborating with NXP, Microsoft selected the MCX A microcontroller (MCU), specifically the new MCX A5, as its platform for Rust enablement. Together, Microsoft and NXP are providing integrators with production-ready, memory-safe components that guarantee today’s hardware is built for tomorrow's security demands.

“This was a true collaboration between NXP, Microsoft and the ODP project. Having direct access to NXP dramatically streamlined everything. The close partnership removed friction, accelerated development and allowed us to focus on delivering a robust, production-ready HAL in Rust — bringing strong memory safety guarantees alongside an excellent developer experience.”

Felipe Balbi, Principal Software Engineer Microsoft

The Challenge: Hardening Next-Generation Computing

Historically, low-level firmware relied on languages like C and C++, which require manual memory management and are prone to vulnerabilities like buffer overflows. But, as the PC ecosystem moves toward standardized, open-source architectures, maintaining these legacy codebases poses a growing security risk for manufacturers.

Overall, Windows device integrators and silicon providers face several challenges:

• Vulnerability saturation: Memory-safety flaws are one of the largest security risks in device firmware.
• Integration friction: High-level OS requirements often diverge from low-level silicon capabilities, leading to complex bring-up cycles for OEMs.
• Legacy architectural constraints: Traditional firmware development lacks secure-by-default device design.
• Certification bottlenecks: Manually validating the safety of complex C-based drivers extends time-to-market and increases engineering overhead.
• Ecosystem fragmentation: A lack of standardized, validated software components forces integrators to build redundant low-level firmware from scratch.

To truly harden the Windows ecosystem, Microsoft needed memory-safe languages at the silicon level. Microsoft’s engineers needed:

• Validated compute performance: A processing architecture capable of meeting real-time and throughput demands.
• Intrinsic memory safety: Moving from legacy C-based implementations to high-quality Rust drivers that eliminate entire classes of vulnerabilities.
• Ecosystem-ready components: Production-ready firmware that aligns with Microsoft’s ODP and WSSI standards.
• Scalability: A repeatable development model that scales secure software across a range of Windows devices and peripherals.
• Direct silicon alignment: Deep collaboration with silicon experts to ensure hardware-specific drivers are optimized for both performance and security.
• Accelerated time-to-market: Pre-validated components that allow OEMs to prototype and launch next-generation Windows devices months sooner.

Solution: A Memory-Safe Foundation, Designed for Integrity

For a more resilient Windows ecosystem, Microsoft and NXP took a new approach. Instead of layering security on top of legacy code, the teams built a solution from the ground up. Together, they designed a firmware architecture that migrates critical system drivers to Rust, preserving performance while eliminating traditional memory risks. This work focused on building reusable, ecosystem-grade components, rather than Windows-specific implementations.

NXP Technology Inside

MCX A5

The new MCX A5 pairs an Arm® Cortex®-M33 running up to 240 MHz with up to 2 MB Flash and 640 KB RAM.  It adds PSA Level 3 security together with post-quantum cryptography (PQC)-based secure boot, secure update and secure authentication to deliver a future-proof, memory-safe solution.

The companies chose to work with NXP’s MCX A5 MCUs to provide the processing power and latency necessary to handle complex sensor fusion and subsystem management tasks within the Windows ecosystem. By aligning MCX A silicon with Microsoft’s ODP and WSSI frameworks, the group delivered a complete set of fully validated, secure-by-default Rust drivers and system firmware targeting specific MCX A devices used within the Windows ecosystem. With this out-of-the-box solution, integrators can bypass low-level development and move straight into building secure systems – including Windows devices.

Beyond just providing hardware, NXP was a true co-developer of the solution. Microsoft and NXP held regular engineering syncs, joint code reviews, architecture discussions and integration checks, where NXP provided device expertise, firmware collateral and engineering support, while Microsoft guided upstreaming practices, Rust architecture and Windows ecosystem requirements. This collaboration ensured the resulting components are broadly reusable beyond any single operating system.

Results: A Smarter, Safer Future

The collaboration between Microsoft and NXP delivers a new standard for device integrity and ecosystem reliability, including:

• Elimination of memory vulnerabilities: By moving from legacy C/C++ to Rust, the partnership has successfully neutralized memory-safety flaws.
• Proven scalability in the Windows ecosystem: The MCX A5 MCUs have been validated as a platform for Microsoft’s Rust development roadmap. Engineers can feel confident that the solution will scale with future Windows hardware designs and integrator projects.
• Reduced time-to-market: High-quality, pre-developed Rust drivers let OEMs and integrators evaluate and prototype device concepts months sooner than traditional development cycles.
• Standardized, high-quality system components: All firmware components meet the rigorous quality standards of Microsoft’s ODP while remaining reusable across diverse embedded platforms and ecosystems. As a result, device manufacturers receive a consistent and reliable experience.

“This collaboration pushes beyond the limits of traditional MCU firmware by replacing legacy implementations with modern, memory-safe practices. Validating the MCX A as a platform for Microsoft’s Rust roadmap demonstrates the feasibility of building high-performance embedded systems with security as a foundational requirement.”

Amish Desai, Systems and Applications Engineering, Secure Connected Edge NXP Semiconductors

What’s Next

Through this collaboration, the companies established a repeatable blueprint for secure, memory-safe system software within the broader Windows ecosystem. Today, NXP silicon is a foundational component of the Microsoft Surface lineup, which uses ODP/WSSI software and will continue to in the future. Future efforts will expand Rust support across additional NXP silicon portfolios, deepen upstream contributions to the open-source community and further integrate NXP’s hardware security features into Microsoft’s overarching ODP strategy. Devices like the MCX A5 deliver post-quantum cryptography support and long-lifecycle security support to make sure the platform is ready for whatever the future brings.

Together, NXP and Microsoft believe this step forward will lead to a more resilient, reliable and secure computing future for everyone.

Sources

¹ The Chromium Projects: Memory Safety

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