Phrase for a small, legitimate fix for part of a system so broken the fix is unimportant [duplicate]

Solution 1:

Rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic — Wiktionary

To do something pointless or insignificant that will soon be overtaken by events, or that contributes nothing to the solution of a current problem.

Solution 2:

In software development, this is sometimes colloquially referred to a "turd polishing". Here's a definition from Urban Dictionary you might find appropriate to your situation:

An engineering term referring to the process of examining a product, process, or system for defects, fixing the defects, then repeating as new defects appear, instead of re-engineering the solution with fewer defects.

And in context:

"In other words, you attack your firewall / software / website / whatever from the outside, identify a flaw in it, fix the flaw, and then go back to looking. One of my programmer buddies refers to this process as 'turd polishing' because, as he says, it doesn't make your code any less smelly in the long run but management might enjoy its improved, shiny, appearance in the short term."

And on the topic of software development...

If your question is specifically about software development (programming), you may also be interested in the related concept of "software debt", where the degree of bugginess in your application is seen as a kind of debt taken on for development expediency, but which eventually has to be paid off.