diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8bdd898fd..8914ddaf2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -3348,11 +3348,13 @@ If you're using a specification with [Security Schemes](https://spec.openapis.or
 > Out-of-the-box, the server-side code generated by `oapi-codegen` does not provide security validation.
 >
 > To perform authentication, you will need to use the [validation middleware](#requestresponse-validation-middleware).
->
-> In the future, we plan to [implement server-side validation in the generated code](https://github.com/oapi-codegen/oapi-codegen/issues/1524)
 
 To see how this can work, check out the [authenticated API example](examples/authenticated-api/echo).
 
+If an operation includes an empty `{}` security alternative, generated server
+middleware treats that operation as allowing anonymous requests and doesn't embed required
+security scopes in the request context.
+
 ### On the client
 
 With a generated client, you'll want to use the client's generated `WithRequestEditorFn` function to pass in a given request editor `RequestEditorFn`.
diff --git a/internal/test/servers/middleware/fiber/main_test.go b/internal/test/servers/middleware/fiber/main_test.go
index 5fb54530f..82b358cb4 100644
--- a/internal/test/servers/middleware/fiber/main_test.go
+++ b/internal/test/servers/middleware/fiber/main_test.go
@@ -3,10 +3,15 @@ package serversmiddlewarefiber
 import (
 	"net/http"
 	"net/http/httptest"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"runtime"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/gofiber/fiber/v2"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )
 
 type impl struct{}
@@ -21,14 +26,6 @@ func (i *impl) Test(c *fiber.Ctx) error {
 	return c.SendStatus(fiber.StatusOK)
 }
 
-// hasSecurityScopes returns true if the BearerAuthScopes key was set in context,
-// even if the scopes slice is empty (an empty slice means the security scheme is
-// defined on the operation with no required scopes, which still requires auth).
-func hasSecurityScopes(c *fiber.Ctx) bool {
-	_, ok := c.Context().UserValue(BearerAuthScopes).([]string)
-	return ok
-}
-
 func TestIssue518(t *testing.T) {
 	server := &impl{}
 
@@ -47,23 +44,17 @@ func TestIssue518(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 			HandlerMiddlewares: []HandlerMiddlewareFunc{
 				func(c *fiber.Ctx, next fiber.Handler) error {
-					if hasSecurityScopes(c) && c.Get(fiber.HeaderAuthorization) == "" {
-						return c.SendStatus(fiber.StatusUnauthorized)
-					}
 					return next(c)
 				},
 			},
 		})
 	})
 
-	t.Run("secured endpoint requires auth when scopes are present", func(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("endpoint with anonymous security alternative allows missing auth", func(t *testing.T) {
 		r := fiber.New()
 		RegisterHandlersWithOptions(r, server, FiberServerOptions{
 			HandlerMiddlewares: []HandlerMiddlewareFunc{
 				func(c *fiber.Ctx, next fiber.Handler) error {
-					if hasSecurityScopes(c) && c.Get(fiber.HeaderAuthorization) == "" {
-						return c.SendStatus(fiber.StatusUnauthorized)
-					}
 					return next(c)
 				},
 			},
@@ -72,7 +63,7 @@ func TestIssue518(t *testing.T) {
 		req := httptest.NewRequest(http.MethodGet, "/auth-check", nil)
 		resp, err := r.Test(req)
 		assert.NoError(t, err)
-		assert.Equal(t, fiber.StatusUnauthorized, resp.StatusCode)
+		assert.Equal(t, fiber.StatusOK, resp.StatusCode)
 
 		req = httptest.NewRequest(http.MethodGet, "/auth-check", nil)
 		req.Header.Set(fiber.HeaderAuthorization, "Bearer token")
@@ -87,6 +78,16 @@ func TestIssue518(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 }
 
+func TestIssue518AnonymousSecurityAlternativeDoesNotEmitScopes(t *testing.T) {
+	_, testFile, _, ok := runtime.Caller(0)
+	assert.True(t, ok)
+
+	generatedPath := filepath.Join(filepath.Dir(testFile), "middleware.gen.go")
+	generated, err := os.ReadFile(generatedPath)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.False(t, strings.Contains(string(generated), "SetUserValue"))
+}
+
 // From issue-1469: registering fiber handlers (with and without options) for
 // an operation with an empty-object requestBody must not panic.
 func TestIssue1469(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/internal/test/servers/middleware/fiber/middleware.gen.go b/internal/test/servers/middleware/fiber/middleware.gen.go
index 3544cb156..c279fb75e 100644
--- a/internal/test/servers/middleware/fiber/middleware.gen.go
+++ b/internal/test/servers/middleware/fiber/middleware.gen.go
@@ -7,10 +7,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/gofiber/fiber/v2"
 )
 
-const (
-	BearerAuthScopes bearerAuthContextKey = "bearerAuth.Scopes"
-)
-
 // bearerAuthContextKey is the context key for bearerAuth security scheme
 type bearerAuthContextKey string
 
@@ -36,8 +32,6 @@ type HandlerMiddlewareFunc func(c *fiber.Ctx, next fiber.Handler) error
 // AuthCheck operation middleware
 func (siw *ServerInterfaceWrapper) AuthCheck(c *fiber.Ctx) error {
 
-	c.Context().SetUserValue((BearerAuthScopes), []string{})
-
 	handler := func(c *fiber.Ctx) error {
 		return siw.Handler.AuthCheck(c)
 	}
diff --git a/internal/test/servers/middleware/fiber/spec.yaml b/internal/test/servers/middleware/fiber/spec.yaml
index 8f0aaf950..f02bab850 100644
--- a/internal/test/servers/middleware/fiber/spec.yaml
+++ b/internal/test/servers/middleware/fiber/spec.yaml
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ paths:
     get:
       operationId: authCheck
       security:
+        - {}
         - bearerAuth: []
       responses:
         200:
diff --git a/pkg/codegen/operations.go b/pkg/codegen/operations.go
index 55e512a66..3924b43ef 100644
--- a/pkg/codegen/operations.go
+++ b/pkg/codegen/operations.go
@@ -300,6 +300,9 @@ func DescribeSecurityDefinition(securityRequirements openapi3.SecurityRequiremen
 	outDefs := make([]SecurityDefinition, 0)
 
 	for _, sr := range securityRequirements {
+		if len(sr) == 0 {
+			return nil
+		}
 		for _, k := range SortedMapKeys(sr) {
 			v := sr[k]
 			outDefs = append(outDefs, SecurityDefinition{ProviderName: k, Scopes: v})