Mac stuck on lock screen, UX unresponsive, key presses make "pop" sound

Sometimes my Macbook Air gets stuck on the lock screen. I think it happens after I mistype my password once? Suddenly the UX becomes completely unresponsive. The password prompt still contains "********" for my rejected password entry, but it's grayed out, and there is a "Cancel" button at the bottom of the screen, but clicking either of these does nothing, and pressing literally any key on the keyboard makes a "pop" sound but gives no visible response. When my Macbook gets into this state, the only way I can get out of it is by doing a hard reboot. (Super annoying!)

Is this a known bug? Is Apple working on a fix? Does anyone know what causes it or how I can get out of it without rebooting?

I'm currently running Mac OS 12.3

Thanks.