filelock is a platform-independent file lock for Python. From 3.22.0 until 4.2.1, soft lock classes on Windows read an existing marker with _read_lock_file and remove a stale marker through break_lock_file using pathname operations that wait for an oplock break. Another local account with read access to an unheld marker can keep a Level 1 or batch oplock unanswered, causing SoftFileLock.acquire and related async or fallback locks to wait beyond timeout, blocking=False, and cancel_check. A stale marker under the oplock cannot be broken, but mutual exclusion remains intact and no file other than the marker is accessed. This issue is fixed in version 4.2.1.