TokenBasedRememberMeServices assumes user exists when it could not for various reasons: 1. The user could have been deleted (Most likely) 2. The cookie could be invalid https://github.com/spring-projects/spring-security/blob/master/web/src/main/java/org/springframework/security/web/authentication/rememberme/TokenBasedRememberMeServices.java#L123-L124 There is no check and such an exception is not handled gracefully. At the very least, it should throw a InvalidCookieException