CVE-2026-54905: Concurrent Ruby: `ReentrantReadWriteLock` read-count overflow grants a write lock without exclusivity
(updated )
Concurrent::ReentrantReadWriteLock can incorrectly grant a write lock after one thread acquires the read lock 32,768 times.
The lock stores a thread’s local read and write hold counts in one integer. The low 15 bits are used for the read hold count, and bit 15 is used as WRITE_LOCK_HELD. After 32,768 reentrant read acquisitions, the local read count crosses into the write-lock bit. try_write_lock then treats the thread as already holding a write lock and returns true without setting the global RUNNING_WRITER bit.
This breaks the core mutual-exclusion guarantee: the caller is told it has a write lock, but other threads can still hold or acquire read locks at the same time.
References
- github.com/advisories/GHSA-wv3x-4vxv-whpp
- github.com/ruby-concurrency/concurrent-ruby/security/advisories/GHSA-wv3x-4vxv-whpp
- github.com/rubysec/ruby-advisory-db/blob/master/gems/concurrent-ruby/CVE-2026-54905.yml
- nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-54905
- www.cve.org/CVERecord/SearchResults?query=CVE-2026-54905
Code Behaviors & Features
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