CVE-2021-3982 — Linux distributions using CAP_SYS_NICE for gnome-shell may be exposed to a privilege escalation issue

Matched remediation archetype

Privilege escalation and unsafe privilege management

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

• Map service accounts, operating-system identities, roles, capabilities, impersonation, set-user transitions, and administrative helper paths.
• Determine whether untrusted users or lower-privilege processes can reach the affected transition or modify inputs it trusts.
• Review file, socket, registry, device, job, container, and cloud-role permissions used before and after privilege changes.

Remediate safely

• Apply the supported fix and redesign privileged operations as a minimal, authenticated, allowlisted interface.
• Drop privileges before processing untrusted input, verify the drop succeeds, and remove unnecessary roles, capabilities, and write permissions.
• Validate ownership and permissions at time of use and add explicit lower-to-higher privilege boundary tests.