CVE-2021-3784
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedGaruda Linux performs an insecure user creation and authentication that allows any user to impersonate the created account. By creating users from the 'Garuda settings manager', an insecure procedure is performed that keeps the created user without an assigned password during some seconds. This could allow a potential attacker to exploit this vulnerability in order to authenticate without knowing the password.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceGaruda Linux's 'Garuda settings manager' creates new system users through an insecure procedure that leaves the newly created user account without an assigned password for a brief window during the user creation process. This creates a race condition where an attacker could authenticate to the newly created account without knowing its password.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE dataall versionsCVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify the operating system is Garuda LinuxCheck /etc/os-release for the NAME field or run: cat /etc/os-release | grep -i "garuda"Affected if The system is running any version of Garuda Linux
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Confirm Garuda settings manager is installedCheck for the package using your package manager. For pacman-based systems: pacman -Qs garuda-settings-manager or check /usr/bin/ for garuda-settings-manager binariesAffected if The garuda-settings-manager package or its components are present on the system
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Identify users created via Garuda settings managerReview system logs (journalctl, /var/log/ auth.log or secure) for useradd/usermod commands originating from garuda-settings-manager processes around the time of user creationAffected if Any users were created using the Garuda settings manager application
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Audit existing user accounts for missing or expired passwordsCheck for locked or empty password fields using: sudo passwd -S <username> or sudo cat /etc/shadow | cut -d: -f1,2Affected if Any system user accounts have empty password fields or show as having no password set
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Review recent authentication events for unauthorized accessExamine auth logs for successful logins to newly created accounts without corresponding password setup events using: grep "new user" /var/log/secure or journalctl | grep -i "useradd"Affected if There are authentication events for newly created users that occurred before password assignment was logged
A user is affected if the system runs Garuda Linux with garuda-settings-manager installed and any users were created through that tool, as the race condition could have allowed passwordless authentication during the creation window.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataModify the user creation process in Garuda settings manager to ensure passwords are set atomically during user creation, or prevent user login until password assignment is complete.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,408.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-3784 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-3784 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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