# CVE-2021-38616: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Logged-in users can escalate privileges or modify other profiles via an unprotected user edition endpoint in Eigen NLP.

- **Severity:** High 7.6 (`CVSS:3.1/AC:L/AV:N/A:L/C:L/I:H/PR:L/S:U/UI:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 7 Sep 2021
- **Updated:** 30 May 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-76h3-5354-76w2

## What is CVE-2021-38616?

CVE-2021-38616 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 7 Sep 2021. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In Eigen NLP 3.10.1, a lack of access control on the /auth/v1/user/{user-guid}/ user edition endpoint could permit any logged-in user to increase their own permissions via a user_permissions array in a PATCH request. A guest user could modify other users' profiles and much more.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-38616?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Eigentech Natural Language Processing.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-38616?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-38616 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-38616 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-38616 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2021-38617](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-38617/): Missing authorization in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2021-38615](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-38615/): Missing authorization in n/a (medium 6.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-38616 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-38616 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 7 Sep 2021. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-38616 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-38616/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-38616/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-38616
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-38616
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-38616

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-38616/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.