diff --git a/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core/model/org/eclipse/cdt/internal/core/settings/model/CProjectDescriptionManager.java b/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core/model/org/eclipse/cdt/internal/core/settings/model/CProjectDescriptionManager.java
index 91f171da0de..617ed549468 100644
--- a/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core/model/org/eclipse/cdt/internal/core/settings/model/CProjectDescriptionManager.java
+++ b/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core/model/org/eclipse/cdt/internal/core/settings/model/CProjectDescriptionManager.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*******************************************************************************
- * Copyright (c) 2007, 2013 Intel Corporation and others.
+ * Copyright (c) 2007, 2014 Intel Corporation and others.
  * All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials
  * are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0
  * which accompanies this distribution, and is available at
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
  * IBM Corporation
  * James Blackburn (Broadcom Corp.)
  * Alex Blewitt Bug 132511 - nature order not preserved
+ * Christian Walther (Indel AG) - [436060] Race condition in updateProjectDescriptions()
  *******************************************************************************/
 package org.eclipse.cdt.internal.core.settings.model;
 
@@ -537,12 +538,16 @@ public class CProjectDescriptionManager implements ICProjectDescriptionManager {
 			IWorkspace wsp = ResourcesPlugin.getWorkspace();
 			if(projects == null)
 				projects = wsp.getRoot().getProjects();
-			final ICProjectDescription dess[] = new ICProjectDescription[projects.length];
+			final ICProjectDescription dessWritable[] = new ICProjectDescription[projects.length];
+			final ICProjectDescription dessCache[] = new ICProjectDescription[projects.length];
 			int num = 0;
 			for (IProject project : projects) {
 				ICProjectDescription des = getProjectDescription(project, false, true);
-				if(des != null)
-					dess[num++] = des;
+				if (des != null) {
+					dessWritable[num] = des;
+					dessCache[num] = getProjectDescription(project, false, false);
+					num++;
+				}
 			}
 
 			if(num != 0){
@@ -554,12 +559,19 @@ public class CProjectDescriptionManager implements ICProjectDescriptionManager {
 					public void run(IProgressMonitor monitor) throws CoreException {
 						monitor.beginTask(SettingsModelMessages.getString("CProjectDescriptionManager.13"), fi[0]); //$NON-NLS-1$
 
-						for (ICProjectDescription des : dess) {
-							if(des == null)
-								break;
+						for (int i = 0; i < fi[0]; i++) {
+							ICProjectDescription des = dessWritable[i];
+							ICProjectDescription desCache = dessCache[i];
 							IProgressMonitor subMonitor = new SubProgressMonitor(monitor, 1);
 							try {
-								setProjectDescription(des.getProject(), des, true, subMonitor);
+								// Only apply the project description if it is still current, otherwise:
+								// - someone else must already have called setProjectDescription, so there is
+								// nothing to do
+								// - we might overwrite someone else's changes with our older description
+								if (desCache == getProjectDescription(des.getProject(), false,
+										false)) {
+									setProjectDescription(des.getProject(), des, true, subMonitor);
+								}
 							} catch (CoreException e){
 								CCorePlugin.log(e);
 							} finally {