diff --git a/django/contrib/auth/__init__.py b/django/contrib/auth/__init__.py
index afcff27ee90..550b60d14e9 100644
--- a/django/contrib/auth/__init__.py
+++ b/django/contrib/auth/__init__.py
@@ -20,10 +20,11 @@ def load_backend(path):
     return import_string(path)()
 
 
-def get_backends():
+def _get_backends(return_tuples=False):
     backends = []
     for backend_path in settings.AUTHENTICATION_BACKENDS:
-        backends.append(load_backend(backend_path))
+        backend = load_backend(backend_path)
+        backends.append((backend, backend_path) if return_tuples else backend)
     if not backends:
         raise ImproperlyConfigured(
             'No authentication backends have been defined. Does '
@@ -32,6 +33,10 @@ def get_backends():
     return backends
 
 
+def get_backends():
+    return _get_backends(return_tuples=False)
+
+
 def _clean_credentials(credentials):
     """
     Cleans a dictionary of credentials of potentially sensitive info before
@@ -51,7 +56,7 @@ def authenticate(**credentials):
     """
     If the given credentials are valid, return a User object.
     """
-    for backend in get_backends():
+    for backend, backend_path in _get_backends(return_tuples=True):
         try:
             inspect.getcallargs(backend.authenticate, **credentials)
         except TypeError:
@@ -66,7 +71,7 @@ def authenticate(**credentials):
         if user is None:
             continue
         # Annotate the user object with the path of the backend.
-        user.backend = "%s.%s" % (backend.__module__, backend.__class__.__name__)
+        user.backend = backend_path
         return user
 
     # The credentials supplied are invalid to all backends, fire signal
diff --git a/django/contrib/auth/tests/__init__.py b/django/contrib/auth/tests/__init__.py
index 2c308642e52..bf9af5db455 100644
--- a/django/contrib/auth/tests/__init__.py
+++ b/django/contrib/auth/tests/__init__.py
@@ -1 +1,4 @@
 # The password for the fixture data users is 'password'
+
+# For testing that auth backends can be referenced using a convenience import
+from django.contrib.auth.tests.test_auth_backends import ImportedModelBackend  # NOQA
diff --git a/django/contrib/auth/tests/test_auth_backends.py b/django/contrib/auth/tests/test_auth_backends.py
index 4845128ff08..65d9fde8f8b 100644
--- a/django/contrib/auth/tests/test_auth_backends.py
+++ b/django/contrib/auth/tests/test_auth_backends.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ from django.contrib.auth.tests.utils import skipIfCustomUser
 from django.contrib.auth.tests.custom_user import ExtensionUser, CustomPermissionsUser, CustomUser
 from django.contrib.contenttypes.models import ContentType
 from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured, PermissionDenied
-from django.contrib.auth import authenticate, get_user
+from django.contrib.auth import authenticate, BACKEND_SESSION_KEY, get_user
 from django.http import HttpRequest
 from django.test import TestCase, override_settings
 from django.contrib.auth.hashers import MD5PasswordHasher
@@ -608,3 +608,26 @@ class ImproperlyConfiguredUserModelTest(TestCase):
         request.session = self.client.session
 
         self.assertRaises(ImproperlyConfigured, get_user, request)
+
+
+class ImportedModelBackend(ModelBackend):
+    pass
+
+
+class ImportedBackendTests(TestCase):
+    """
+    #23925 - The backend path added to the session should be the same
+    as the one defined in AUTHENTICATION_BACKENDS setting.
+    """
+
+    backend = 'django.contrib.auth.tests.ImportedModelBackend'
+
+    @override_settings(AUTHENTICATION_BACKENDS=(backend, ))
+    def test_backend_path(self):
+        username = 'username'
+        password = 'password'
+        User.objects.create_user(username, 'email', password)
+        self.assertTrue(self.client.login(username=username, password=password))
+        request = HttpRequest()
+        request.session = self.client.session
+        self.assertEqual(request.session[BACKEND_SESSION_KEY], self.backend)