---
id: CVE-2026-73421
title: NextAuth.js provides authentication for Next.js
summary: >-
  NextAuth.js provides authentication for Next.js. From next-auth 5.0.0-beta.0
  until 5.0.0-beta.32, applications that gate access by checking only for the
  existence of the auth object returned by the auth() wrapper can fail open when
  Auth.…
severity: none
cwe:
  - CWE-285
  - CWE-636
published: '2026-08-13'
updated: '2026-09-18'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-18T20:05:53.723'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-73421'
references:
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/nextauthjs/next-auth/commit/d008b9b764bf4b322a87e1822d1dda7789258d8f
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/nextauthjs/next-auth/releases/tag/next-auth@5.0.0-beta.32
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/nextauthjs/next-auth/security/advisories/GHSA-8fpg-xm3f-6cx3
    label: security-advisories@github.com
tags:
  - nvd
epss: 0.00643
epssPercentile: 0.48626
ingestedAt: '2026-09-18T20:51:25.612Z'
---

## Overview

NextAuth.js provides authentication for Next.js. From next-auth 5.0.0-beta.0 until 5.0.0-beta.32, applications that gate access by checking only for the existence of the auth object returned by the auth() wrapper can fail open when Auth.js has a server configuration error. In middleware, Route Handlers, React Server Components, and other auth() entry points, a non-OK session response is parsed into a truthy error object instead of null, so checks such as !!auth and if (req.auth) evaluate to true for unauthenticated requests. A provider missing both the issuer and authorization endpoint triggers InvalidEndpoints, and an unset AUTH_SECRET or another server configuration error can produce the same behavior. There is no impact while configuration is valid, but after a deployment becomes misconfigured, routes protected only by session existence silently grant access to every visitor. This issue is fixed in next-auth 5.0.0-beta.32.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.