diff --git a/auth_server/authn/http_auth.go b/auth_server/authn/http_auth.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..95f3641f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/auth_server/authn/http_auth.go
@@ -0,0 +1,164 @@
+/*
+   Copyright 2016 Cesanta Software Ltd.
+
+   Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+   you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+   You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+       https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+   limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package authn
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"context"
+	"crypto/tls"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"net/http"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/cesanta/docker_auth/auth_server/api"
+	"github.com/cesanta/glog"
+)
+
+const (
+	httpAuthAllow             = "allow"
+	httpAuthDeny              = "deny"
+	httpAuthFailed            = "failed"
+	httpAuthNoMatch           = "no_match"
+	httpAuthMaxErrorBodyBytes = 1024
+)
+
+type HttpAuthConfig struct {
+	Url                string              `yaml:"http_url"`
+	InsecureSkipVerify bool                `yaml:"insecure_tls_skip_verify,omitempty"`
+	HTTPTimeout        time.Duration       `yaml:"http_timeout,omitempty"`
+	DisableKeepAlives  bool                `yaml:"http_disable_keepalives,omitempty"`
+	Headers            map[string][]string `yaml:"http_headers,omitempty"`
+}
+
+type HttpAuthRequest struct {
+	User     string `json:"user"`
+	Password string `json:"password"`
+}
+
+type HttpAuthResponse struct {
+	Result string     `json:"result,omitempty"`
+	Labels api.Labels `json:"labels,omitempty"`
+}
+
+func (c *HttpAuthConfig) Validate() error {
+	if c.Url == "" {
+		return fmt.Errorf("http_url is not set")
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+type httpAuth struct {
+	cfg        *HttpAuthConfig
+	ctx        context.Context
+	cancel     context.CancelFunc
+	httpClient *http.Client
+}
+
+func NewHttpAuth(cfg *HttpAuthConfig) (*httpAuth, error) {
+	glog.Infof("HTTP authenticator: %s", cfg.Url)
+	for k, vals := range cfg.Headers {
+		glog.V(2).Infof("HTTP authenticator header: %s=%v", k, vals)
+	}
+
+	// Create a context that can be cancelled when the authenticator is stopped
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
+
+	// Set default timeout if not set
+	if cfg.HTTPTimeout <= 0 {
+		cfg.HTTPTimeout = 15 * time.Second
+	}
+	transport := &http.Transport{
+		DisableKeepAlives:   cfg.DisableKeepAlives,
+		DisableCompression:  true,
+		ForceAttemptHTTP2:   false,
+		TLSHandshakeTimeout: cfg.HTTPTimeout,
+		TLSClientConfig:     &tls.Config{InsecureSkipVerify: cfg.InsecureSkipVerify},
+	}
+	httpClient := &http.Client{
+		Transport: transport,
+		Timeout:   cfg.HTTPTimeout,
+	}
+
+	return &httpAuth{cfg: cfg, ctx: ctx, cancel: cancel, httpClient: httpClient}, nil
+}
+
+func (ha *httpAuth) Authenticate(user string, password api.PasswordString) (bool, api.Labels, error) {
+	authReq := HttpAuthRequest{
+		User:     user,
+		Password: string(password),
+	}
+
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+	if err := json.NewEncoder(&buf).Encode(&authReq); err != nil {
+		return false, nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create JSON payload: %w", err)
+	}
+	req, err := http.NewRequestWithContext(ha.ctx, "POST", ha.cfg.Url, &buf)
+	if err != nil {
+		return false, nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create HTTP request: %w", err)
+	}
+	req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+	// Set custom headers
+	for k, vals := range ha.cfg.Headers {
+		for _, v := range vals {
+			req.Header.Add(k, v)
+		}
+	}
+	resp, err := ha.httpClient.Do(req)
+	if err != nil {
+		return false, nil, fmt.Errorf("http request failed: %w", err)
+	}
+	defer resp.Body.Close()
+	// Process http errors
+	if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
+		body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+		if err != nil {
+			return false, nil, fmt.Errorf("error: HTTP server responded status code %d", resp.StatusCode)
+		}
+		// Limit error body size to avoid potential log flooding
+		if len(body) > httpAuthMaxErrorBodyBytes {
+			body = body[:httpAuthMaxErrorBodyBytes]
+		}
+		return false, nil, fmt.Errorf("error: HTTP server responded status code %d - %s", resp.StatusCode, body)
+	}
+	// Process response
+	authResp := &HttpAuthResponse{}
+	if err := json.NewDecoder(resp.Body).Decode(&authResp); err != nil {
+		return false, nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid JSON in response body: %w", err)
+	}
+	switch authResp.Result {
+	case httpAuthAllow:
+		return true, authResp.Labels, nil
+	case httpAuthDeny:
+		return false, nil, nil
+	case httpAuthFailed:
+		return false, nil, api.WrongPass
+	case httpAuthNoMatch:
+		return false, nil, api.NoMatch
+	default:
+		return false, nil, fmt.Errorf("unexpected \"result\" value %q in JSON response; expected one of %q, %q, %q, %q", authResp.Result, httpAuthAllow, httpAuthDeny, httpAuthFailed, httpAuthNoMatch)
+	}
+}
+
+func (ha *httpAuth) Stop() {
+	ha.cancel()
+}
+
+func (ha *httpAuth) Name() string {
+	return "http_auth"
+}
diff --git a/auth_server/server/config.go b/auth_server/server/config.go
index 13c610b7..1ee273f4 100644
--- a/auth_server/server/config.go
+++ b/auth_server/server/config.go
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ type Config struct {
 	XormAuthn   *authn.XormAuthnConfig         `yaml:"xorm_auth,omitempty"`
 	ExtAuth     *authn.ExtAuthConfig           `yaml:"ext_auth,omitempty"`
 	PluginAuthn *authn.PluginAuthnConfig       `yaml:"plugin_authn,omitempty"`
+	HttpAuth    *authn.HttpAuthConfig          `yaml:"http_auth,omitempty"`
 	ACL         authz.ACL                      `yaml:"acl,omitempty"`
 	ACLMongo    *authz.ACLMongoConfig          `yaml:"acl_mongo,omitempty"`
 	ACLXorm     *authz.XormAuthzConfig         `yaml:"acl_xorm,omitempty"`
@@ -180,7 +181,7 @@ func validate(c *Config) error {
 	if c.Token.Expiration <= 0 {
 		return fmt.Errorf("expiration must be positive, got %d", c.Token.Expiration)
 	}
-	if c.Users == nil && c.ExtAuth == nil && c.GoogleAuth == nil && c.GitHubAuth == nil && c.GitlabAuth == nil && c.OIDCAuth == nil && c.LDAPAuth == nil && c.MongoAuth == nil && c.XormAuthn == nil && c.PluginAuthn == nil {
+	if c.Users == nil && c.ExtAuth == nil && c.GoogleAuth == nil && c.GitHubAuth == nil && c.GitlabAuth == nil && c.OIDCAuth == nil && c.LDAPAuth == nil && c.MongoAuth == nil && c.XormAuthn == nil && c.PluginAuthn == nil && c.HttpAuth == nil {
 		return errors.New("no auth methods are configured, this is probably a mistake. Use an empty user map if you really want to deny everyone")
 	}
 	if c.MongoAuth != nil {
@@ -308,6 +309,11 @@ func validate(c *Config) error {
 			return fmt.Errorf("bad ext_auth config: %s", err)
 		}
 	}
+	if c.HttpAuth != nil {
+		if err := c.HttpAuth.Validate(); err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("bad http_auth config: %s", err)
+		}
+	}
 	if c.ACL == nil && c.ACLXorm == nil && c.ACLMongo == nil && c.ExtAuthz == nil && c.PluginAuthz == nil {
 		return errors.New("ACL is empty, this is probably a mistake. Use an empty list if you really want to deny all actions")
 	}
diff --git a/auth_server/server/server.go b/auth_server/server/server.go
index ae7abd82..c9c91570 100644
--- a/auth_server/server/server.go
+++ b/auth_server/server/server.go
@@ -88,6 +88,13 @@ func NewAuthServer(c *Config) (*AuthServer, error) {
 	if c.ExtAuth != nil {
 		as.authenticators = append(as.authenticators, authn.NewExtAuth(c.ExtAuth))
 	}
+	if c.HttpAuth != nil {
+		ha, err := authn.NewHttpAuth(c.HttpAuth)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		as.authenticators = append(as.authenticators, ha)
+	}
 	if c.GoogleAuth != nil {
 		ga, err := authn.NewGoogleAuth(c.GoogleAuth)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -437,7 +444,7 @@ func (as *AuthServer) ServeHTTP(rw http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
 	case req.URL.Path == path_prefix+"/auth":
 		as.doAuth(rw, req)
 	case req.URL.Path == path_prefix+"/auth/token":
-		as.doAuth(rw, req) 
+		as.doAuth(rw, req)
 	case req.URL.Path == path_prefix+"/google_auth" && as.ga != nil:
 		as.ga.DoGoogleAuth(rw, req)
 	case req.URL.Path == path_prefix+"/github_auth" && as.gha != nil:
diff --git a/examples/reference.yml b/examples/reference.yml
index 31de9ee7..b53e5208 100644
--- a/examples/reference.yml
+++ b/examples/reference.yml
@@ -338,6 +338,37 @@ ext_auth:
 plugin_authn:
   plugin_path: ""
 
+# HTTP authentication – Authenticate a user via an HTTPS server.
+# Authentication is performed by sending a POST request to an HTTPS server.
+# The username and password are included as a JSON payload in the request body:
+# {"user": "foo", "password": "bar"}
+# The server responds with status code 200 and a JSON object indicating the authentication result:
+# Allow:    { "result": "allow" }
+# Deny:     { "result": "deny" }
+# Failed:   { "result": "failed" }
+# No match: { "result": "no_match" }
+# The optional "labels" field may contain labels to be passed down to authz, where they can
+# be used in matching:
+# { "result": "allow", "labels": {"groups": ["admin","trainee"], "project": ["hello-world"]} }
+# In case of an error the server should return a non-200 status code and may include 
+# an error message in the response body.
+http_auth:
+  # The the http server URL
+  http_url: "https://example.com"
+  # Set to true to allow insecure tls Optional.
+  insecure_tls_skip_verify: false
+  # How long to wait when talking to the http server. Optional.
+  http_timeout: "10s"
+  # If true, disables HTTP keep-alives and will only use the connection to the server for a single HTTP request. Optional.
+  http_disable_keepalives: false
+  # Additional HTTP Headers. Optional.
+  http_headers:
+    Authorization:
+      - Bearer xyz123
+    Cache-Control:
+      - no-cache
+      - no-store
+
 # Authorization methods. All are tried, any one returning success is sufficient.
 # At least one must be configured.