Are the nightly releases the expected way to get timely bugfixes?

That is how software releases generally work. AFAICT this is not a bug with broad impact or security implications.

I guess thats arguable, a memory leak can make a system unpleasant to use although I accept it can be solved by repeatedly restarting the offending app.

Yes, if you want fixes as soon as they're committed, rather than waiting for a more regular release that might be tested and more stable.