diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/executor/Executor.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/executor/Executor.scala
index d01de3b9ed08..138e7da9569d 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/executor/Executor.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/executor/Executor.scala
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import java.nio.ByteBuffer
 import java.util.{Locale, Properties}
 import java.util.concurrent._
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean
+import java.util.concurrent.locks.ReentrantLock
 import javax.annotation.concurrent.GuardedBy
 import javax.ws.rs.core.UriBuilder
 
@@ -85,6 +86,11 @@ private[spark] class Executor(
 
   private[executor] val conf = env.conf
 
+  // SPARK-40235: updateDependencies() uses a ReentrantLock instead of the `synchronized` keyword
+  // so that tasks can exit quickly if they are interrupted while waiting on another task to
+  // finish downloading dependencies.
+  private val updateDependenciesLock = new ReentrantLock()
+
   // No ip or host:port - just hostname
   Utils.checkHost(executorHostname)
   // must not have port specified.
@@ -969,13 +975,19 @@ private[spark] class Executor(
   /**
    * Download any missing dependencies if we receive a new set of files and JARs from the
    * SparkContext. Also adds any new JARs we fetched to the class loader.
+   * Visible for testing.
    */
-  private def updateDependencies(
+  private[executor] def updateDependencies(
       newFiles: Map[String, Long],
       newJars: Map[String, Long],
-      newArchives: Map[String, Long]): Unit = {
+      newArchives: Map[String, Long],
+      testStartLatch: Option[CountDownLatch] = None,
+      testEndLatch: Option[CountDownLatch] = None): Unit = {
     lazy val hadoopConf = SparkHadoopUtil.get.newConfiguration(conf)
-    synchronized {
+    updateDependenciesLock.lockInterruptibly()
+    try {
+      // For testing, so we can simulate a slow file download:
+      testStartLatch.foreach(_.countDown())
       // Fetch missing dependencies
       for ((name, timestamp) <- newFiles if currentFiles.getOrElse(name, -1L) < timestamp) {
         logInfo(s"Fetching $name with timestamp $timestamp")
@@ -1018,6 +1030,10 @@ private[spark] class Executor(
           }
         }
       }
+      // For testing, so we can simulate a slow file download:
+      testEndLatch.foreach(_.await())
+    } finally {
+      updateDependenciesLock.unlock()
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/executor/ExecutorSuite.scala b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/executor/ExecutorSuite.scala
index 14871efac5bc..bef36d08e8ae 100644
--- a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/executor/ExecutorSuite.scala
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/executor/ExecutorSuite.scala
@@ -514,6 +514,59 @@ class ExecutorSuite extends SparkFunSuite
     }
   }
 
+  test("SPARK-40235: updateDependencies is interruptible when waiting on lock") {
+    val conf = new SparkConf
+    val serializer = new JavaSerializer(conf)
+    val env = createMockEnv(conf, serializer)
+    withExecutor("id", "localhost", env) { executor =>
+      val startLatch = new CountDownLatch(1)
+      val endLatch = new CountDownLatch(1)
+
+      // Start a thread to simulate a task that begins executing updateDependencies()
+      // and takes a long time to finish because file download is slow:
+      val slowLibraryDownloadThread = new Thread(() => {
+        executor.updateDependencies(
+          Map.empty,
+          Map.empty,
+          Map.empty,
+          Some(startLatch),
+          Some(endLatch))
+      })
+      slowLibraryDownloadThread.start()
+
+      // Wait for that thread to acquire the lock:
+      startLatch.await()
+
+      // Start a second thread to simulate a task that blocks on the other task's
+      // dependency update:
+      val blockedLibraryDownloadThread = new Thread(() => {
+        executor.updateDependencies(
+          Map.empty,
+          Map.empty,
+          Map.empty)
+      })
+      blockedLibraryDownloadThread.start()
+      eventually(timeout(10.seconds), interval(100.millis)) {
+        val threadState = blockedLibraryDownloadThread.getState
+        assert(Set(Thread.State.BLOCKED, Thread.State.WAITING).contains(threadState))
+      }
+
+      // Interrupt the blocked thread:
+      blockedLibraryDownloadThread.interrupt()
+
+      // The thread should exit:
+      eventually(timeout(10.seconds), interval(100.millis)) {
+        assert(blockedLibraryDownloadThread.getState == Thread.State.TERMINATED)
+      }
+
+      // Allow the first thread to finish and exit:
+      endLatch.countDown()
+      eventually(timeout(10.seconds), interval(100.millis)) {
+        assert(slowLibraryDownloadThread.getState == Thread.State.TERMINATED)
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
   private def createMockEnv(conf: SparkConf, serializer: JavaSerializer): SparkEnv = {
     val mockEnv = mock[SparkEnv]
     val mockRpcEnv = mock[RpcEnv]