Vulncheck Authentication

generated: '2026-09-04'
method: searched
source: https://docs.vulncheck.com/getting-started/api-tokens
docs: https://docs.vulncheck.com/getting-started/api-tokens
derived_from: openapi/vulncheck-api-openapi.json
api: VulnCheck API v3
summary:
  types:
  - apiKey
  api_key_in:
  - header
  - query
  - cookie
  oauth2: false
  openid_connect: false
  mutual_tls: false
  scopes: none
schemes:
- name: Bearer
  type: apiKey
  in: header
  parameter: Authorization
  format: 'Authorization: Bearer <token>'
  declared_in_spec: true
  sources:
  - openapi/vulncheck-api-openapi.json
  - https://docs.vulncheck.com/getting-started/api-tokens
- name: token (query parameter)
  type: apiKey
  in: query
  parameter: token
  format: '?token=<token>'
  declared_in_spec: false
  documented: true
  sources:
  - https://docs.vulncheck.com/getting-started/api-tokens
  note: >-
    Documented as a convenience for testing tokens and browsing endpoints in a browser. Real
    and supported, but a credential in a URL is recorded in proxy logs, browser history and
    Referer headers. Recorded because VulnCheck publishes it, not because it is advisable.
- name: token (cookie)
  type: apiKey
  in: cookie
  parameter: token
  format: 'Cookie: token=<token>'
  declared_in_spec: false
  documented: true
  sources:
  - https://docs.vulncheck.com/getting-started/api-tokens
  note: This is how VulnCheck's own web portal authenticates against the same API.
token:
  kind: long-lived API token
  shared_with: The same token authenticates both the API and the web portal.
  issue: https://console.vulncheck.com/settings/tokens
  issue_flow: Tokens & SSH Keys page -> Create Token -> label + icon. The value is shown ONCE.
  rotation: Self-service create and remove; no automated rotation endpoint.
  expiry: A token unused for 30 days expires and must be recreated.
  revocation: Remove the token from the Tokens & SSH Keys page, or via `vulncheck token remove`.
  env_var: VC_TOKEN
  cli: vulncheck auth login (browser or paste-token)
failure:
  status: 401
  body: '{"error":true,"errors":["unauthorized"]}'
  www_authenticate: false
  method: probed
  probe:
    url: https://api.vulncheck.com/v3/index/a10
    status: 401
    note: >-
      No WWW-Authenticate challenge is returned, so a client cannot discover the required
      scheme from the response. The 401 body is also typed as a bare `string` in the spec.
anonymous_surface:
- url: https://api.vulncheck.com/v3/openapi
  status: 200
  note: The OpenAPI document itself is the only operation reachable without a token.
gaps:
- id: no-global-security-requirement
  detail: >-
    The OpenAPI declares no top-level `security` and applies the Bearer scheme to no operation,
    so a generated client reads all 521 operations as anonymous when 520 of them return 401.
    Captured as a correction in overlays/vulncheck-api-overlay.yaml.
- id: undeclared-transports
  detail: The query-parameter and cookie transports are documented but absent from the spec.
- id: no-scopes
  detail: >-
    There is no scope or permission model. Access is all-or-nothing per token, differentiated
    only by the account's entitlements (GET /entitlements returns a map of roles to
    entitlements). An agent cannot be issued a narrowed credential.