Pipelines failing with `pop_var_context: head of shell_variables not a function context`

Summary

Pipelines are failing sporadically with the error:

./scripts/rspec_helpers.sh: line 336: pop_var_context: head of shell_variables not a function context
./scripts/rspec_helpers.sh: line 220: pop_var_context: head of shell_variables not a function context
./scripts/rspec_helpers.sh: line 295: pop_var_context: head of shell_variables not a function context

Examples

• https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org-sandbox/gitlab-jh-validation/-/jobs/6171295741#L78
• https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/jobs/6171348697
• https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/jobs/6170451440
• https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/jobs/6170451440
• https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/jobs/6169366655

Steps to reproduce

Please refer to Flaky tests documentation to learn more about how to reproduce them.

Proposed Resolution

Please refer to the Resolution guidance to learn more about resolution of broken master.

Once the flaky failure has been fixed on the default branch, open merge requests to cherry-pick the fix to the active stable branches.

Logs