[BUG]: Sporadic task / step failures relating to usage of Node V24 and timer assertion errors

[mark-hopper]

What happened?

Over the last couple of days, with our own hosted VMSS agent pool (using a customised version of the DevOps runner images) we are seeing a number of task / step failures relating to an apparent move to Node V24 internally on the DevOps Agent.

Versions

Azure DevOps Version 4.269.0 / Ubuntu 22.04

Environment type (Please select at least one enviroment where you face this issue)

• Self-Hosted
• Microsoft Hosted
• VMSS Pool
• Container

Azure DevOps Server type

dev.azure.com (formerly visualstudio.com)

Azure DevOps Server Version (if applicable)

No response

Operation system

Ubuntu 22.04

Version controll system

GitHub / Git

Relevant log output

Tool to install: .NET Core sdk version 8.0.415.

  #  /agent/externals/node24/bin/node[14048]: uint64_t node::Environment::GetNowUint64() at ../src/env.cc:1599
  #  Assertion failed: (now) >= (timer_base())

----- Native stack trace -----

 1: 0x8a2bb7 node::Assert(node::AssertionInfo const&) [/agent/externals/node24/bin/node]
 2: 0x7f479a node::Environment::GetNowUint64() [/agent/externals/node24/bin/node]
 3: 0xa54844 node::timers::BindingData::SlowGetLibuvNow(v8::FunctionCallbackInfo<v8::Value> const&) [/agent/externals/node24/bin/node]
 4: 0x7f3da5d8f08d 

----- JavaScript stack trace -----

1: insert (node:internal/timers:387:46)
2: setUnrefTimeout (node:internal/timers:415:3)
3: setStreamTimeout (node:internal/stream_base_commons:255:22)
4: connect (node:_tls_wrap:1769:15)
5: createConnection (node:https:367:18)
6: createSocket (node:_http_agent:400:26)
7: addRequest (node:_http_agent:340:10)
8: ClientRequest (node:_http_client:404:16)
9: request (node:https:633:10)
10: requestRawWithCallback (/agent/_work/_tasks/UseDotNet_b0ce7256-7898-45d3-9cb5-176b752bfea6/2.268.2/node_modules/typed-rest-client/HttpClient.js:322:35)


##[error]Exit code 134 returned from process: file name '/agent/externals/node24/bin/node', arguments '"/agent/_work/_tasks/UseDotNet_b0ce7256-7898-45d3-9cb5-176b752bfea6/2.268.2/usedotnet.js"'.
##[debug]Microsoft.VisualStudio.Services.Agent.Util.ProcessExitCodeException: Exit code 134 returned from process: file name '/agent/externals/node24/bin/node', arguments '"/agent/_work/_tasks/UseDotNet_b0ce7256-7898-45d3-9cb5-176b752bfea6/2.268.2/usedotnet.js"'.
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Services.Agent.Util.ProcessInvoker.ExecuteAsync(String workingDirectory, String fileName, String arguments, IDictionary`2 environment, Boolean requireExitCodeZero, Encoding outputEncoding, Boolean killProcessOnCancel, InputQueue`1 redirectStandardIn, Boolean inheritConsoleHandler, Boolean keepStandardInOpen, Boolean highPriorityProcess, Boolean continueAfterCancelProcessTreeKillAttempt, CancellationToken cancellationToken) in /mnt/vss/_work/1/s/src/Agent.Sdk/ProcessInvoker.cs:line 399
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Services.Agent.ProcessInvokerWrapper.ExecuteAsync(String workingDirectory, String fileName, String arguments, IDictionary`2 environment, Boolean requireExitCodeZero, Encoding outputEncoding, Boolean killProcessOnCancel, InputQueue`1 redirectStandardIn, Boolean inheritConsoleHandler, Boolean keepStandardInOpen, Boolean highPriorityProcess, Boolean continueAfterCancelProcessTreeKillAttempt, CancellationToken cancellationToken) in /mnt/vss/_work/1/s/src/Microsoft.VisualStudio.Services.Agent/ProcessInvoker.cs:line 329
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Services.Agent.Worker.Handlers.DefaultStepHost.ExecuteAsync(String workingDirectory, String fileName, String arguments, IDictionary`2 environment, Boolean requireExitCodeZero, Encoding outputEncoding, Boolean killProcessOnCancel, Boolean inheritConsoleHandler, Boolean continueAfterCancelProcessTreeKillAttempt, TimeSpan sigintTimeout, TimeSpan sigtermTimeout, Boolean useGracefulShutdown, CancellationToken cancellationToken) in /mnt/vss/_work/1/s/src/Agent.Worker/Handlers/StepHost.cs:line 86
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Services.Agent.Worker.Handlers.NodeHandler.RunAsync() in /mnt/vss/_work/1/s/src/Agent.Worker/Handlers/NodeHandler.cs:line 306
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Services.Agent.Worker.TaskRunner.RunAsyncInternal() in /mnt/vss/_work/1/s/src/Agent.Worker/TaskRunner.cs:line 477
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Services.Agent.Worker.TaskRunner.RunAsync() in /mnt/vss/_work/1/s/src/Agent.Worker/TaskRunner.cs:line 81
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Services.Agent.Worker.StepsRunner.RunStepAsync(IStep step, CancellationToken jobCancellationToken) in /mnt/vss/_work/1/s/src/Agent.Worker/StepsRunner.cs:line 369
Finishing: UseDotNet