diff --git a/rust/cpp.rs b/rust/cpp.rs
index 2a199dcc61..1a623ee947 100644
--- a/rust/cpp.rs
+++ b/rust/cpp.rs
@@ -140,6 +140,10 @@ pub struct SerializedData {
 }
 
 impl SerializedData {
+    pub fn new() -> Self {
+        Self { data: NonNull::dangling(), len: 0 }
+    }
+
     /// Constructs owned serialized data from raw components.
     ///
     /// # Safety
diff --git a/rust/cpp_kernel/BUILD b/rust/cpp_kernel/BUILD
index 5de02e55d8..2438bfb79d 100644
--- a/rust/cpp_kernel/BUILD
+++ b/rust/cpp_kernel/BUILD
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ cc_library(
         ":rust_alloc_for_cpp_api",  # buildcleaner: keep
         "//src/google/protobuf",
         "//src/google/protobuf:protobuf_lite",
-        "@com_google_absl//absl/strings:string_view",
+        "@com_google_absl//absl/log:absl_log",
     ],
 )
 
diff --git a/rust/cpp_kernel/cpp_api.h b/rust/cpp_kernel/cpp_api.h
index e165e8b838..44f299feb5 100644
--- a/rust/cpp_kernel/cpp_api.h
+++ b/rust/cpp_kernel/cpp_api.h
@@ -14,7 +14,9 @@
 #include <cstring>
 #include <string>
 
+#include "absl/log/absl_log.h"
 #include "google/protobuf/message.h"
+#include "google/protobuf/message_lite.h"
 
 namespace google {
 namespace protobuf {
@@ -41,16 +43,17 @@ extern "C" struct SerializedData {
 // This function is defined in `rust_alloc_for_cpp_api.rs`.
 extern "C" void* __pb_rust_alloc(size_t size, size_t align);
 
-inline SerializedData SerializeMsg(const google::protobuf::MessageLite* msg) {
+inline bool SerializeMsg(const google::protobuf::MessageLite* msg, SerializedData* out) {
   size_t len = msg->ByteSizeLong();
   void* bytes = __pb_rust_alloc(len, alignof(char));
   if (bytes == nullptr) {
     ABSL_LOG(FATAL) << "Rust allocator failed to allocate memory.";
   }
   if (!msg->SerializeToArray(bytes, static_cast<int>(len))) {
-    ABSL_LOG(FATAL) << "Couldn't serialize the message.";
+    return false;
   }
-  return SerializedData(static_cast<char*>(bytes), len);
+  *out = SerializedData(static_cast<char*>(bytes), len);
+  return true;
 }
 
 // Represents an ABI-stable version of &[u8]/string_view (borrowed slice of
diff --git a/rust/test/cpp/interop/BUILD b/rust/test/cpp/interop/BUILD
index 6faac7a5a3..b4915b8d32 100644
--- a/rust/test/cpp/interop/BUILD
+++ b/rust/test/cpp/interop/BUILD
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ cc_library(
     deps = [
         "//rust/cpp_kernel:cpp_api",
         "//src/google/protobuf:unittest_cc_proto",
+        "@com_google_absl//absl/log:absl_check",
         "@com_google_absl//absl/strings",
     ],
 )
diff --git a/rust/test/cpp/interop/test_utils.cc b/rust/test/cpp/interop/test_utils.cc
index 823c916129..a3010df7f8 100644
--- a/rust/test/cpp/interop/test_utils.cc
+++ b/rust/test/cpp/interop/test_utils.cc
@@ -8,19 +8,25 @@
 #include <cstddef>
 #include <cstdint>
 
+#include "absl/log/absl_check.h"
 #include "absl/strings/string_view.h"
 #include "rust/cpp_kernel/cpp_api.h"
 #include "google/protobuf/unittest.pb.h"
 
+using google::protobuf::rust_internal::SerializedData;
+using google::protobuf::rust_internal::SerializeMsg;
+
 extern "C" void MutateTestAllTypes(protobuf_unittest::TestAllTypes* msg) {
   msg->set_optional_int64(42);
   msg->set_optional_bytes("something mysterious");
   msg->set_optional_bool(false);
 }
 
-extern "C" google::protobuf::rust_internal::SerializedData SerializeTestAllTypes(
+extern "C" SerializedData SerializeTestAllTypes(
     const protobuf_unittest::TestAllTypes* msg) {
-  return google::protobuf::rust_internal::SerializeMsg(msg);
+  SerializedData data(nullptr, 0);
+  ABSL_CHECK(SerializeMsg(msg, &data));
+  return data;
 }
 
 extern "C" void DeleteTestAllTypes(protobuf_unittest::TestAllTypes* msg) {
diff --git a/src/google/protobuf/compiler/rust/message.cc b/src/google/protobuf/compiler/rust/message.cc
index d7443d03f0..4b138b931c 100644
--- a/src/google/protobuf/compiler/rust/message.cc
+++ b/src/google/protobuf/compiler/rust/message.cc
@@ -61,8 +61,15 @@ void MessageSerialize(Context& ctx, const Descriptor& msg) {
   switch (ctx.opts().kernel) {
     case Kernel::kCpp:
       ctx.Emit({{"serialize_thunk", ThunkName(ctx, msg, "serialize")}}, R"rs(
-        //~ TODO: This should be fallible.
-        Ok(unsafe { $serialize_thunk$(self.raw_msg()) })
+        let mut serialized_data = $pbr$::SerializedData::new();
+        let success = unsafe {
+          $serialize_thunk$(self.raw_msg(), &mut serialized_data)
+        };
+        if success {
+          Ok(serialized_data)
+        } else {
+          Err($pb$::SerializeError)
+        }
       )rs");
       return;
 
@@ -185,7 +192,7 @@ void MessageExterns(Context& ctx, const Descriptor& msg) {
           R"rs(
           fn $new_thunk$() -> $pbr$::RawMessage;
           fn $delete_thunk$(raw_msg: $pbr$::RawMessage);
-          fn $serialize_thunk$(raw_msg: $pbr$::RawMessage) -> $pbr$::SerializedData;
+          fn $serialize_thunk$(raw_msg: $pbr$::RawMessage, out: &mut $pbr$::SerializedData) -> bool;
           fn $parse_thunk$(raw_msg: $pbr$::RawMessage, data: $pbr$::SerializedData) -> bool;
           fn $copy_from_thunk$(dst: $pbr$::RawMessage, src: $pbr$::RawMessage);
           fn $repeated_len_thunk$(raw: $pbr$::RawRepeatedField) -> usize;
@@ -1210,8 +1217,8 @@ void GenerateThunksCc(Context& ctx, const Descriptor& msg) {
         extern $abi$ {
         void* $new_thunk$() { return new $QualifiedMsg$(); }
         void $delete_thunk$(void* ptr) { delete static_cast<$QualifiedMsg$*>(ptr); }
-        google::protobuf::rust_internal::SerializedData $serialize_thunk$($QualifiedMsg$* msg) {
-          return google::protobuf::rust_internal::SerializeMsg(msg);
+        bool $serialize_thunk$($QualifiedMsg$* msg, google::protobuf::rust_internal::SerializedData* out) {
+          return google::protobuf::rust_internal::SerializeMsg(msg, out);
         }
         bool $parse_thunk$($QualifiedMsg$* msg,
                                  google::protobuf::rust_internal::SerializedData data) {