diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 190313e..259b272 100755
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+
 source "https://rubygems.org"
 
 gemspec
@@ -10,7 +11,8 @@ end
 
 group :test do
   gem "chefstyle"
-  gem "cucumber"
+  gem "cucumber", "< 5" # remove the version pin when we drop Ruby 2.4 support
+  gem "activesupport", "< 6" # this dep can be removed when we drop Ruby 2.4 support
   gem "rake"
   gem "rspec", "~> 3.7"
 end
@@ -18,6 +20,6 @@ end
 group :debug do
   gem "pry"
   gem "pry-byebug"
-  gem "pry-stack_explorer"
+  gem "pry-stack_explorer", "~> 0.4.0" # pin until we drop ruby < 2.6
   gem "rb-readline"
 end