concurrent-ruby: `AtomicReference#update` livelocks when the stored value is `Float::NAN`
21Vexday Risk Score
No sign of exploitation. No public exploitation artifact known so far.
ssvc Trackcvss 8.2epss 0.4%
exploitation probability
0.4%top 66% of all CVEs
observed exploitation
nono source reports it
concurrent-ruby is a modern concurrency tools for Ruby. Prior to 1.3.7, Concurrent::AtomicReference#update can enter a permanent busy retry loop when the current value is Float::NAN. The issue is caused by the interaction between AtomicReference#update, which retries until compare_and_set(old_value, new_value) succeeds; Numeric compare_and_set, which checks old == old_value before attempting the underlying atomic swap.; and Ruby NaN semantics, where Float::NAN == Float::NAN is always false. As a result, once an AtomicReference contains Float::NAN, calling #update repeatedly evaluates the caller's block and never returns. In services that store externally derived numeric values in an AtomicReference, this can cause CPU exhaustion or permanent request/job hangs. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.3.7.
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Affected products
ruby-concurrency · concurrent-rubyReferences
https://github.com/ruby-concurrency/concurrent-ruby/commit/6e37e0644b83b182971dc540d2e4bee38df61386https://github.com/ruby-concurrency/concurrent-ruby/releases/tag/v1.3.7https://github.com/ruby-concurrency/concurrent-ruby/security/advisories/GHSA-h8w8-99g7-qmvjhttps://github.com/rubysec/ruby-advisory-db/blob/master/gems/concurrent-ruby/CVE-2026-54904.yml