diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index f3e7f1ae0e3a6e..89f45deb99cf7b 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ The following default gems are updated.
 * io-console 0.8.1
 * io-nonblock 0.3.2
 * io-wait 0.4.0.dev
-* json 2.17.0
+* json 2.17.1
 * net-http 0.8.0
 * openssl 4.0.0.pre
 * optparse 0.8.0
diff --git a/doc/extension.rdoc b/doc/extension.rdoc
index ba59d107ab4c84..6cf4c4926c93fc 100644
--- a/doc/extension.rdoc
+++ b/doc/extension.rdoc
@@ -2047,7 +2047,7 @@ the <code>*_kw</code> functions introduced in Ruby 2.7.
   #define rb_proc_call_with_block_kw(p, c, v, b, kw) rb_proc_call_with_block(p, c, v, b)
   #define rb_method_call_kw(c, v, m, kw) rb_method_call(c, v, m)
   #define rb_method_call_with_block_kw(c, v, m, b, kw) rb_method_call_with_block(c, v, m, b)
-  #define rb_eval_cmd_kwd(c, a, kw) rb_eval_cmd(c, a, 0)
+  #define rb_eval_cmd_kw(c, a, kw) rb_eval_cmd(c, a, 0)
   #endif
 
 == Appendix C. Functions available for use in extconf.rb
diff --git a/ext/json/lib/json/version.rb b/ext/json/lib/json/version.rb
index b7de7c27e21446..4ed61c43c8b187 100644
--- a/ext/json/lib/json/version.rb
+++ b/ext/json/lib/json/version.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
 module JSON
-  VERSION = '2.17.0'
+  VERSION = '2.17.1'
 end
diff --git a/ext/json/parser/parser.c b/ext/json/parser/parser.c
index 5b7cd835cd7d1e..c84c7ed660a06d 100644
--- a/ext/json/parser/parser.c
+++ b/ext/json/parser/parser.c
@@ -651,7 +651,9 @@ static inline const char *json_next_backslash(const char *pe, const char *string
         positions->size--;
         const char *next_position = positions->positions[0];
         positions->positions++;
-        return next_position;
+        if (next_position >= pe) {
+            return next_position;
+        }
     }
 
     if (positions->has_more) {
diff --git a/include/ruby/internal/intern/vm.h b/include/ruby/internal/intern/vm.h
index 29e0c7f534acb1..779f77fe91fcb5 100644
--- a/include/ruby/internal/intern/vm.h
+++ b/include/ruby/internal/intern/vm.h
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ VALUE rb_check_funcall(VALUE recv, ID mid, int argc, const VALUE *argv);
  */
 VALUE rb_check_funcall_kw(VALUE recv, ID mid, int argc, const VALUE *argv, int kw_splat);
 
+#ifdef RBIMPL_ATTR_DEPRECATED_INTERNAL
 /**
  * This API  is practically a  variant of rb_proc_call_kw()  now.  Historically
  * when there  still was a  concept called `$SAFE`, this  was an API  for that.
@@ -109,7 +110,9 @@ VALUE rb_check_funcall_kw(VALUE recv, ID mid, int argc, const VALUE *argv, int k
  *   - RB_PASS_CALLED_KEYWORDS  it depends if there is a passed block.
  * @return     What the command evaluates to.
  */
+RBIMPL_ATTR_DEPRECATED_INTERNAL(4.0)
 VALUE rb_eval_cmd_kw(VALUE cmd, VALUE arg, int kw_splat);
+#endif
 
 /**
  * Identical to rb_funcallv(), except it takes Ruby's array instead of C's.
diff --git a/internal/vm.h b/internal/vm.h
index e5ed47afae0e29..7fae590d198fdd 100644
--- a/internal/vm.h
+++ b/internal/vm.h
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ void rb_check_stack_overflow(void);
 VALUE rb_block_call2(VALUE obj, ID mid, int argc, const VALUE *argv, rb_block_call_func_t bl_proc, VALUE data2, long flags);
 struct vm_ifunc *rb_current_ifunc(void);
 VALUE rb_gccct_clear_table(VALUE);
+VALUE rb_eval_cmd_call_kw(VALUE cmd, int argc, const VALUE *argv, int kw_splat);
 
 #if USE_YJIT || USE_ZJIT
 /* vm_exec.c */
diff --git a/ractor.rb b/ractor.rb
index 7c00e148a120aa..3c0c6744e6148e 100644
--- a/ractor.rb
+++ b/ractor.rb
@@ -472,6 +472,7 @@ def self.[]=(sym, val)
   #   }.map(&:value).uniq.size #=> 1 and f() is called only once
   #
   def self.store_if_absent(sym)
+    Primitive.attr! :use_block
     Primitive.ractor_local_value_store_if_absent(sym)
   end
 
diff --git a/signal.c b/signal.c
index 5971e12ee9b00f..12af9058a25439 100644
--- a/signal.c
+++ b/signal.c
@@ -1066,7 +1066,7 @@ signal_exec(VALUE cmd, int sig)
     EC_PUSH_TAG(ec);
     if ((state = EC_EXEC_TAG()) == TAG_NONE) {
         VALUE signum = INT2NUM(sig);
-        rb_eval_cmd_kw(cmd, rb_ary_new3(1, signum), RB_NO_KEYWORDS);
+        rb_eval_cmd_call_kw(cmd, 1, &signum, RB_NO_KEYWORDS);
     }
     EC_POP_TAG();
     ec = GET_EC();
diff --git a/spec/ruby/optional/capi/ext/kernel_spec.c b/spec/ruby/optional/capi/ext/kernel_spec.c
index ff71a7e5892219..a8fed21b5900b6 100644
--- a/spec/ruby/optional/capi/ext/kernel_spec.c
+++ b/spec/ruby/optional/capi/ext/kernel_spec.c
@@ -117,9 +117,11 @@ VALUE kernel_spec_rb_eval_string(VALUE self, VALUE str) {
   return rb_eval_string(RSTRING_PTR(str));
 }
 
+#ifndef RUBY_VERSION_IS_4_0
 VALUE kernel_spec_rb_eval_cmd_kw(VALUE self, VALUE cmd, VALUE args, VALUE kw_splat) {
   return rb_eval_cmd_kw(cmd, args, NUM2INT(kw_splat));
 }
+#endif
 
 VALUE kernel_spec_rb_raise(VALUE self, VALUE hash) {
   rb_hash_aset(hash, ID2SYM(rb_intern("stage")), ID2SYM(rb_intern("before")));
@@ -403,7 +405,9 @@ void Init_kernel_spec(void) {
   rb_define_method(cls, "rb_category_warn_deprecated_with_integer_extra_value", kernel_spec_rb_category_warn_deprecated_with_integer_extra_value, 1);
   rb_define_method(cls, "rb_ensure", kernel_spec_rb_ensure, 4);
   rb_define_method(cls, "rb_eval_string", kernel_spec_rb_eval_string, 1);
+#ifndef RUBY_VERSION_IS_4_0
   rb_define_method(cls, "rb_eval_cmd_kw", kernel_spec_rb_eval_cmd_kw, 3);
+#endif
   rb_define_method(cls, "rb_raise", kernel_spec_rb_raise, 1);
   rb_define_method(cls, "rb_throw", kernel_spec_rb_throw, 1);
   rb_define_method(cls, "rb_throw_obj", kernel_spec_rb_throw_obj, 2);
diff --git a/spec/ruby/optional/capi/kernel_spec.rb b/spec/ruby/optional/capi/kernel_spec.rb
index d915a72c22af75..6633ee50c1f8ac 100644
--- a/spec/ruby/optional/capi/kernel_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/ruby/optional/capi/kernel_spec.rb
@@ -635,22 +635,24 @@ def proc_caller
     end
   end
 
-  describe "rb_eval_cmd_kw" do
-    it "evaluates a string of ruby code" do
-      @s.rb_eval_cmd_kw("1+1", [], 0).should == 2
-    end
+  ruby_version_is ""..."4.0" do
+    describe "rb_eval_cmd_kw" do
+      it "evaluates a string of ruby code" do
+        @s.rb_eval_cmd_kw("1+1", [], 0).should == 2
+      end
 
-    it "calls a proc with the supplied arguments" do
-      @s.rb_eval_cmd_kw(-> *x { x.map { |i| i + 1 } }, [1, 3, 7], 0).should == [2, 4, 8]
-    end
+      it "calls a proc with the supplied arguments" do
+        @s.rb_eval_cmd_kw(-> *x { x.map { |i| i + 1 } }, [1, 3, 7], 0).should == [2, 4, 8]
+      end
 
-    it "calls a proc with keyword arguments if kw_splat is non zero" do
-      a_proc = -> *x, **y {
-        res = x.map { |i| i + 1 }
-        y.each { |k, v| res << k; res << v }
-        res
-      }
-      @s.rb_eval_cmd_kw(a_proc, [1, 3, 7, {a: 1, b: 2, c: 3}], 1).should == [2, 4, 8, :a, 1, :b, 2, :c, 3]
+      it "calls a proc with keyword arguments if kw_splat is non zero" do
+        a_proc = -> *x, **y {
+          res = x.map { |i| i + 1 }
+          y.each { |k, v| res << k; res << v }
+          res
+        }
+        @s.rb_eval_cmd_kw(a_proc, [1, 3, 7, {a: 1, b: 2, c: 3}], 1).should == [2, 4, 8, :a, 1, :b, 2, :c, 3]
+      end
     end
   end
 
diff --git a/test/json/json_parser_test.rb b/test/json/json_parser_test.rb
index 3e662bda324ba5..257e4f1736a2d0 100644
--- a/test/json/json_parser_test.rb
+++ b/test/json/json_parser_test.rb
@@ -325,6 +325,13 @@ def test_invalid_unicode_escape
     assert_raise(JSON::ParserError) { parse('"\u111___"') }
   end
 
+  def test_unicode_followed_by_newline
+    # Ref: https://github.com/ruby/json/issues/912
+    assert_equal "🌌\n".bytes, JSON.parse('"\ud83c\udf0c\n"').bytes
+    assert_equal "🌌\n", JSON.parse('"\ud83c\udf0c\n"')
+    assert_predicate JSON.parse('"\ud83c\udf0c\n"'), :valid_encoding?
+  end
+
   def test_invalid_surogates
     assert_raise(JSON::ParserError) { parse('"\\uD800"') }
     assert_raise(JSON::ParserError) { parse('"\\uD800_________________"') }
diff --git a/variable.c b/variable.c
index faeffec660a9f2..47b521856676dd 100644
--- a/variable.c
+++ b/variable.c
@@ -862,7 +862,7 @@ rb_define_virtual_variable(
 static void
 rb_trace_eval(VALUE cmd, VALUE val)
 {
-    rb_eval_cmd_kw(cmd, rb_ary_new3(1, val), RB_NO_KEYWORDS);
+    rb_eval_cmd_call_kw(cmd, 1, &val, RB_NO_KEYWORDS);
 }
 
 VALUE
diff --git a/vm_eval.c b/vm_eval.c
index 281d63a1b8268a..12bdabc3302f68 100644
--- a/vm_eval.c
+++ b/vm_eval.c
@@ -2147,6 +2147,17 @@ rb_eval_string_wrap(const char *str, int *pstate)
 
 VALUE
 rb_eval_cmd_kw(VALUE cmd, VALUE arg, int kw_splat)
+{
+    Check_Type(arg, T_ARRAY);
+    int argc = RARRAY_LENINT(arg);
+    const VALUE *argv = RARRAY_CONST_PTR(arg);
+    VALUE val = rb_eval_cmd_call_kw(cmd, argc, argv, kw_splat);
+    RB_GC_GUARD(arg);
+    return val;
+}
+
+VALUE
+rb_eval_cmd_call_kw(VALUE cmd, int argc, const VALUE *argv, int kw_splat)
 {
     enum ruby_tag_type state;
     volatile VALUE val = Qnil;		/* OK */
@@ -2155,8 +2166,7 @@ rb_eval_cmd_kw(VALUE cmd, VALUE arg, int kw_splat)
     EC_PUSH_TAG(ec);
     if ((state = EC_EXEC_TAG()) == TAG_NONE) {
         if (!RB_TYPE_P(cmd, T_STRING)) {
-            val = rb_funcallv_kw(cmd, idCall, RARRAY_LENINT(arg),
-                              RARRAY_CONST_PTR(arg), kw_splat);
+            val = rb_funcallv_kw(cmd, idCall, argc, argv, kw_splat);
         }
         else {
             val = eval_string_with_cref(rb_vm_top_self(), cmd, NULL, 0, 0);