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When a user creates a directory using the default settings in a Linux environment, the system typically assigns the directory with permission levels of read, write, and execute for the user who created it. This is due to the default umask setting, which controls the default permissions set for new files and directories.

In most cases, the default permission for directories is set to 777 (which means read, write, and execute for everyone), but the effective permissions are determined by subtracting the umask value. The common default umask for users is 022. When this umask is applied, the effective permissions on a newly created directory become 755. This means the user has read, write, and execute permissions, while the group and others have read and execute permissions only.

The read permission allows the user to list the contents of the directory, the write permission allows the user to create, delete, or rename files within the directory, while the execute permission allows access to the directory in terms of traversing it into other directories or files within it.

Thus, a user creating a directory with default settings will typically end up with permissions granting them read, write, and execute rights.