diff --git a/sdk/program/src/serialize_utils/cursor.rs b/sdk/program/src/serialize_utils/cursor.rs
index 079eab8f433dc5..1c0e4b9572d7dc 100644
--- a/sdk/program/src/serialize_utils/cursor.rs
+++ b/sdk/program/src/serialize_utils/cursor.rs
@@ -61,7 +61,9 @@ pub(crate) fn read_pubkey_into(
 
     match cursor.fill_buf() {
         Ok(buf) if buf.len() >= PUBKEY_SIZE => {
-            // Safety: `buf` is guaranteed to be at least `PUBKEY_SIZE` bytes long
+            // Safety: `buf` is guaranteed to be at least `PUBKEY_SIZE` bytes
+            // long. Pubkey a #[repr(transparent)] wrapper around a byte array,
+            // so this is a byte to byte copy and it's safe.
             unsafe {
                 ptr::copy_nonoverlapping(buf.as_ptr(), pubkey as *mut u8, PUBKEY_SIZE);
             }
diff --git a/sdk/program/src/vote/state/mod.rs b/sdk/program/src/vote/state/mod.rs
index 3f6c402c6aef95..ee61cc84c4cc17 100644
--- a/sdk/program/src/vote/state/mod.rs
+++ b/sdk/program/src/vote/state/mod.rs
@@ -483,10 +483,17 @@ impl VoteState {
     ///
     /// In a SBPF context, V0_23_5 is not supported, but in non-SBPF, all versions are supported for
     /// compatibility with `bincode::deserialize`.
+    ///
+    /// On success, `vote_state` reflects the state of the input data. On failure, `vote_state` is
+    /// reset to `VoteState::default()`.
     pub fn deserialize_into(
         input: &[u8],
         vote_state: &mut VoteState,
     ) -> Result<(), InstructionError> {
+        // Rebind vote_state to *mut VoteState so that the &mut binding isn't
+        // accessible anymore, preventing accidental use after this point.
+        let vote_state = vote_state as *mut VoteState;
+
         // Safety: vote_state is valid to_drop (see drop_in_place() docs). After
         // dropping, the pointer is treated as uninitialized and only accessed
         // through ptr::write, which is safe as per drop_in_place docs.
@@ -494,7 +501,24 @@ impl VoteState {
             std::ptr::drop_in_place(vote_state);
         }
 
-        VoteState::deserialize_into_ptr(input, vote_state)
+        match VoteState::deserialize_into_ptr(input, vote_state) {
+            Ok(()) => Ok(()),
+            Err(err) => {
+                // Safety:
+                //
+                // Deserialize failed so at this point vote_state is uninitialized. We must write a
+                // new _valid_ value into it or after returning from this function the caller is
+                // left with an uninitialized `&mut VoteState`, which is UB (references must always
+                // be valid).
+                //
+                // This is always safe and doesn't leak memory because deserialize_into_ptr() writes
+                // into the fields that heap alloc only when it returns Ok().
+                unsafe {
+                    vote_state.write(VoteState::default());
+                }
+                Err(err)
+            }
+        }
     }
 
     /// Deserializes the input `VoteStateVersions` buffer directly into the provided
@@ -1135,6 +1159,50 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn test_vote_deserialize_into() {
+        // base case
+        let target_vote_state = VoteState::default();
+        let vote_state_buf =
+            bincode::serialize(&VoteStateVersions::new_current(target_vote_state.clone())).unwrap();
+
+        let mut test_vote_state = VoteState::default();
+        VoteState::deserialize_into(&vote_state_buf, &mut test_vote_state).unwrap();
+
+        assert_eq!(target_vote_state, test_vote_state);
+
+        // variant
+        // provide 4x the minimum struct size in bytes to ensure we typically touch every field
+        let struct_bytes_x4 = std::mem::size_of::<VoteState>() * 4;
+        for _ in 0..1 {
+            let raw_data: Vec<u8> = (0..struct_bytes_x4).map(|_| rand::random::<u8>()).collect();
+            let mut unstructured = Unstructured::new(&raw_data);
+
+            let target_vote_state_versions =
+                VoteStateVersions::arbitrary(&mut unstructured).unwrap();
+            let vote_state_buf = bincode::serialize(&target_vote_state_versions).unwrap();
+            let target_vote_state = target_vote_state_versions.convert_to_current();
+
+            let mut test_vote_state = VoteState::default();
+            VoteState::deserialize_into(&vote_state_buf, &mut test_vote_state).unwrap();
+
+            assert_eq!(target_vote_state, test_vote_state);
+        }
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_vote_deserialize_into_error() {
+        let target_vote_state = VoteState::new_rand_for_tests(Pubkey::new_unique(), 42);
+        let mut vote_state_buf =
+            bincode::serialize(&VoteStateVersions::new_current(target_vote_state.clone())).unwrap();
+        let len = vote_state_buf.len();
+        vote_state_buf.truncate(len - 1);
+
+        let mut test_vote_state = VoteState::default();
+        VoteState::deserialize_into(&vote_state_buf, &mut test_vote_state).unwrap_err();
+        assert_eq!(test_vote_state, VoteState::default());
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn test_vote_deserialize_into_uninit() {
         // base case