diff --git a/src/task.ts b/src/task.ts
index 0344a4c3fe..7c618e23e4 100644
--- a/src/task.ts
+++ b/src/task.ts
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ const _devHint = `(is dev server running?)`;
 async function _getTasksContext(opts?: TaskRunnerOptions) {
   const cwd = resolve(process.cwd(), opts?.cwd || ".");
   const buildDir = resolve(cwd, opts?.buildDir || "node_modules/.nitro");
+  const timeout = opts?.timeout ?? 30_000;
 
   const buildInfoPath = resolve(buildDir, "nitro.dev.json");
   if (!existsSync(buildInfoPath)) {
@@ -75,6 +76,7 @@ async function _getTasksContext(opts?: TaskRunnerOptions) {
         {
           socketPath,
           method: options?.method,
+          timeout,
           headers: {
             Accept: "application/json",
             "Content-Type": "application/json",
@@ -95,6 +97,11 @@ async function _getTasksContext(opts?: TaskRunnerOptions) {
         }
       );
 
+      request.on("timeout", () => {
+        // destroy with an error so the `error` handler rejects instead of
+        // leaving the promise pending forever on a stalled socket
+        request.destroy(new Error(`Request timed out after ${timeout}ms ${_devHint}`));
+      });
       request.on("error", (e) => reject(e));
 
       if (options?.body) {
diff --git a/src/types/runtime/task.ts b/src/types/runtime/task.ts
index 2d997f746b..53fc478444 100644
--- a/src/types/runtime/task.ts
+++ b/src/types/runtime/task.ts
@@ -36,4 +36,10 @@ export interface Task<RT = unknown> {
 export interface TaskRunnerOptions {
   cwd?: string;
   buildDir?: string;
+  /**
+   * Timeout in milliseconds for requests to the dev server.
+   *
+   * @default 30_000
+   */
+  timeout?: number;
 }
diff --git a/test/unit/task.test.ts b/test/unit/task.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a2b5de1e51
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/task.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+import http from "node:http";
+import { mkdir, mkdtemp, rm, writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";
+import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
+import { join } from "pathe";
+import { afterAll, describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { listTasks } from "../../src/task.ts";
+
+describe("task runner devFetch", () => {
+  const cleanups: Array<() => Promise<void> | void> = [];
+
+  afterAll(async () => {
+    for (const cleanup of cleanups) {
+      await cleanup();
+    }
+  });
+
+  // https://github.com/unjs/nitro/issues/4292
+  it("rejects instead of hanging when the dev server socket stalls", async () => {
+    const cwd = await mkdtemp(join(tmpdir(), "nitro-task-test-"));
+    cleanups.push(() => rm(cwd, { recursive: true, force: true }));
+
+    // A worker socket that accepts connections but never responds, like a
+    // stalled dev server whose pid is still alive.
+    const socketPath = join(cwd, "worker.sock");
+    const server = http.createServer(() => {});
+    cleanups.push(() => new Promise((resolve) => server.close(() => resolve())));
+    await new Promise<void>((resolve) => server.listen(socketPath, resolve));
+
+    const buildDir = join(cwd, "node_modules/.nitro");
+    await mkdir(buildDir, { recursive: true });
+    await writeFile(
+      join(buildDir, "nitro.dev.json"),
+      JSON.stringify({
+        dev: { pid: process.pid, workerAddress: { socketPath } },
+      })
+    );
+
+    await expect(listTasks({ cwd, timeout: 200 })).rejects.toThrow(/timed out/i);
+  }, 5000);
+});