diff --git a/ohai.gemspec b/ohai.gemspec
index 3086be4d7..2a190322e 100644
--- a/ohai.gemspec
+++ b/ohai.gemspec
@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |s|
   s.add_dependency "chef-config", ">= 14.12", "< 20"
   s.add_dependency "chef-utils", ">= 16.0", "< 20"
   s.add_dependency "ffi", ">= 1.15.5"
-  s.add_dependency "ffi-yajl", ">= 2.2", "< 3.0"
+  # ffi-yajl has a stale version in 3.0.0 specifically that is in use. 3.0.1 and higher is ok again
+  s.add_dependency "ffi-yajl", ">= 2.2", "< 4.0", "!= 3.0.0"
   s.add_dependency "ipaddress"
   s.add_dependency "mixlib-cli", ">= 1.7.0" # 1.7+ needed to support passing multiple options
   s.add_dependency "mixlib-config", ">= 2.0", "< 4.0"