[en] We investigate the bounds on the mass of the lightest neutralino from rare meson decays within the MSSM with and without minimal flavor violation. We present explicit formulae for the two-body decays of mesons into light neutralinos and perform the first complete calculation of the loop-induced decays of kaons to pions and light neutralinos and B mesons to kaons and light neutralinos. We find that the supersymmetric branching ratios are strongly suppressed within the MSSM with minimal flavor violation, and that no bounds on the neutralino mass can be inferred from experimental data, i.e. a massless neutralino is allowed. The branching ratios for kaon and B meson decays into light neutralinos may, however, be enhanced when one allows for non-minimal flavor violation. We find new constraints on the MSSM parameter space for such scenarios and discuss prospects for future kaon and B meson experiments. Finally, we comment on the search for light neutralinos in monojet signatures at the Tevatron and at the LHC. (orig.)