diff --git a/.changeset/grumpy-turtles-vanish.md b/.changeset/grumpy-turtles-vanish.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ec3733872f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/grumpy-turtles-vanish.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend': patch
+---
+
+Fix support for unauthenticated requests to create scaffolder tasks
diff --git a/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/service/router.ts b/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/service/router.ts
index 7ea794796d..50f6fc372f 100644
--- a/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/service/router.ts
+++ b/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/service/router.ts
@@ -461,13 +461,15 @@ export async function createRouter(
         defaultKind: 'template',
       });
 
-      const credentials = await httpAuth.credentials(req, { allow: ['user'] });
-
+      const credentials = await httpAuth.credentials(req);
       const { token } = await auth.getPluginRequestToken({
         onBehalfOf: credentials,
         targetPluginId: 'catalog',
       });
-      const userEntityRef = credentials.principal.userEntityRef;
+
+      const userEntityRef = auth.isPrincipal(credentials, 'user')
+        ? credentials.principal.userEntityRef
+        : undefined;
 
       const userEntity = userEntityRef
         ? await catalogClient.getEntityByRef(userEntityRef, { token })