Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-53514

Auth Bypass in Better-Auth Better Auth ≤ 1.6.11

Published
15 July 2026
Modified
21 July 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.7
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0014 4th percentile
Risk Priority 52 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-53514 is a high-severity Improper Authentication (CWE-287) vulnerability in Better-Auth Better Auth. Its CVSS base score is 7.7 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Mark-of-the-Web Bypass (T1553.005); ranked at the 4th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-16 (Security and Privacy Attributes) and AC-3 (Access Enforcement) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Better Auth is an authentication and authorization library for TypeScript. Prior to 1.6.11, and in 1.6.14 and later when invitation IDs can be obtained outside the invited mailbox and requireEmailVerificationOnInvitation: true is not enabled, the organization plugin's acceptInvitation, rejectInvitation, getInvitation,…

more

and listUserInvitations recipient endpoints use session.user.email and an invitation ID without sufficient verified-email ownership proof, allowing a user with an unverified session for the invited email address to accept an organization invitation after obtaining the invitation ID. This issue is fixed for the original default behavior in version 1.6.11, while 1.6.14 restored compatibility for built-in opaque invitation IDs and leaves affected configurations requiring secure options.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1553.005 Mark-of-the-Web Bypass Defense Impairment
Adversaries may abuse specific file formats to subvert Mark-of-the-Web (MOTW) controls.
T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
T1090 Proxy Command And Control
Adversaries may use a connection proxy to direct network traffic between systems or act as an intermediary for network communications to a command and control server to avoid direct connections to their infrastructure.
T1090.002 External Proxy Command And Control
Adversaries may use an external proxy to act as an intermediary for network communications to a command and control server to avoid direct connections to their infrastructure.
T1133 External Remote Services Persistence
Adversaries may leverage external-facing remote services to initially access and/or persist within a network.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-38810Shared CWE-287, CWE-862
CVE-2022-0492Shared CWE-287, CWE-862
CVE-2023-20252Shared CWE-287, CWE-862
CVE-2021-39226Shared CWE-287, CWE-862
CVE-2024-47768Shared CWE-287, CWE-862
CVE-2025-46348Shared CWE-287, CWE-862
CVE-2023-40376Shared CWE-287, CWE-862
CVE-2023-35940Shared CWE-287, CWE-862
CVE-2023-30950Shared CWE-862
CVE-2024-6328Shared CWE-862

Affected Assets

better-auth
better auth
≤ 1.6.11 · ≥ 1.6.14

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 21 hardening rules · 7 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V6.4.4
  • V6.5.4
  • V6.5.5
  • V6.5.7

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

AC-3 directly requires enforcement of authorization decisions on every access request, structurally eliminating missing authorization checks.

Mandates unique identification and authentication of organizational users before access, directly stopping improper authentication.

Requires unique identification and authentication of devices before establishing connections, preventing unauthenticated device claims.

Mandates unique identification and authentication of non-organizational users, directly addressing the weakness for external actors.

Explicit requirement to protect session authenticity structurally prevents the weakness for communications.

Associating and preserving security attributes such as original source identity prevents the loss of provenance that creates the confused deputy.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.AA-05 full match
prevents

Explicitly requires defining, enforcing, and reviewing authorizations and least privilege, directly preventing missing authorization checks.

PR.AA-03 mostly match
prevents

PR.AA-03 directly enforces authentication mechanisms that eliminate most improper-authentication defects, yet CWE-287 spans additional vectors (missing checks, flawed protocols, session handling) that one control does not fully close.

PR.AA-04 mostly match
prevents

PR.AA-04 directly enables verification of identity assertions (mostly preventing CWE-287 in that scope) yet leaves many other authentication failure modes unaddressed (only partial prevention overall).

RC.RP-05 mostly match
degrades

CWE-345 directly impairs RC.RP-05's verification of restored-asset integrity/authenticity, largely defeating the outcome while still leaving other restoration-confirmation steps partially viable.

PR.AA-01 partial match
prevents

PR.AA-01 supplies and governs credentials/tokens that authentication relies on, removing some weak-credential cases, yet leaves verification logic, missing checks, and protocol flaws untouched.

PR.AA-02 partial match
prevents

PR.AA-02 ensures valid enrollment and unique credential binding, which reduces some improper-auth risks at issuance time but leaves runtime claim verification untouched, so each direction only partially addresses the other.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

prevents

Requiring authentication methods whose strength matches the sensitivity of the data and mandating multi-factor authentication directly blocks attempts to access resources without proving identity.

prevents

Verifying user identity before issuing replacement credentials and forcing changes after compromise reduces the likelihood that authentication bypass can be achieved through stolen or weak credentials.

finds

Security testing can detect missing or weak data authenticity verification.

prevents

Requiring authentication and credentials before any access occurs eliminates the absence of authorization checks that would otherwise allow an unauthenticated actor to reach protected resources.

prevents

Access-control rules can limit which upstream identities may cause the product to act on their behalf, reducing confused-deputy risk.

prevents

Mandating segregated approval and oversight for non-human identities reduces the chance that weak or orphaned credentials can be exploited for unauthorized authentication.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 8 (5 rules)
  • V-248574 YUM must be configured to prevent the installation of patches, service packs, device drivers, or OL 8 system components that have not been digitally signed using a certificate that is recognized and approved by the organization. prevents CWE-345
  • V-248575 OL 8 must prevent the installation of software, patches, service packs, device drivers, or operating system components of local packages without verification they have been digitally signed using a certificate that is issued by a Certificate Authority (CA) that is recognized and approved by the organization. prevents CWE-345
  • V-248827 OL 8 must not have the rsh-server package installed. prevents CWE-287
Oracle Linux 9 (1 rule)
  • V-271525 OL 9 must have GPG signature verification enabled for all software repositories. prevents CWE-345
RHEL 7 (7 rules)
  • V-204425 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured so that the SSH daemon does not allow authentication using an empty password. prevents CWE-287
  • V-204442 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must not have the rsh-server package installed. prevents CWE-287
  • V-204447 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must prevent the installation of software, patches, service packs, device drivers, or operating system components from a repository without verification they have been digitally signed using a certificate that is issued by a Certificate Authority (CA) that is recognized and approved by the organization. prevents CWE-345
RHEL 8 (3 rules)
  • V-230264 RHEL 8 must prevent the installation of software, patches, service packs, device drivers, or operating system components from a repository without verification they have been digitally signed using a certificate that is issued by a Certificate Authority (CA) that is recognized and approved by the organization. prevents CWE-345
  • V-230265 RHEL 8 must prevent the installation of software, patches, service packs, device drivers, or operating system components of local packages without verification they have been digitally signed using a certificate that is issued by a Certificate Authority (CA) that is recognized and approved by the organization. prevents CWE-345
  • V-230492 RHEL 8 must not have the rsh-server package installed. prevents CWE-287
RHEL 9 (1 rule)
  • V-257822 RHEL 9 must have GPG signature verification enabled for all software repositories. prevents CWE-345
Ubuntu 22.04 (1 rule)
  • V-260470 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, when booted, must require authentication upon booting into single-user and maintenance modes. prevents CWE-287
Ubuntu 24.04 (2 rules)
  • V-270675 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS when booted must require authentication upon booting into single-user and maintenance modes. prevents CWE-287
  • V-270714 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS must not allow accounts configured in Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM) with blank or null passwords. prevents CWE-287

References