malloc() returning NULL isn't that helpful. Most applications just react to that by aborting, and most applications that don't abort take poorly-tested error-handling paths that often don't work. I don't remember ever seeing an application that reacted by trying the allocation again but requesting less memory.

I have seen applications react by pausing and trying the allocation again a few seconds later --- this can be shockingly effective! https://hacks.mozilla.org/2022/11/improving-firefox-stabilit...