diff --git a/core/admin/mailu/configuration.py b/core/admin/mailu/configuration.py
index d282bfc2..d447e570 100644
--- a/core/admin/mailu/configuration.py
+++ b/core/admin/mailu/configuration.py
@@ -80,6 +80,9 @@ DEFAULT_CONFIG = {
     'TLS_PERMISSIVE': True,
     'TZ': 'Etc/UTC',
     'DEFAULT_SPAM_THRESHOLD': 80,
+    'PROXY_AUTH_WHITELIST': '',
+    'PROXY_AUTH_HEADER': 'X-Auth-Email',
+    'PROXY_AUTH_CREATE': False,
     # Host settings
     'HOST_IMAP': 'imap',
     'HOST_LMTP': 'imap:2525',
@@ -171,6 +174,7 @@ class ConfigManager:
         self.config['HOSTNAMES'] = ','.join(hostnames)
         self.config['HOSTNAME'] = hostnames[0]
         self.config['DEFAULT_SPAM_THRESHOLD'] = int(self.config['DEFAULT_SPAM_THRESHOLD'])
+        self.config['PROXY_AUTH_WHITELIST'] = set(ipaddress.ip_network(cidr, False) for cidr in (cidr.strip() for cidr in self.config['PROXY_AUTH_WHITELIST'].split(',')) if cidr)
 
         # update the app config
         app.config.update(self.config)
diff --git a/core/admin/mailu/sso/views/base.py b/core/admin/mailu/sso/views/base.py
index 6fa9403f..600f62f4 100644
--- a/core/admin/mailu/sso/views/base.py
+++ b/core/admin/mailu/sso/views/base.py
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ from mailu.ui import access
 from flask import current_app as app
 import flask
 import flask_login
+import secrets
+import ipaddress
 
 @sso.route('/login', methods=['GET', 'POST'])
 def login():
@@ -57,3 +59,36 @@ def logout():
     flask.session.destroy()
     return flask.redirect(flask.url_for('.login'))
 
+
+@sso.route('/proxy', methods=['GET'])
+@sso.route('/proxy/<target>', methods=['GET'])
+def proxy(target='webmail'):
+    ip = ipaddress.ip_address(flask.request.remote_addr)
+    if not any(ip in cidr for cidr in app.config['PROXY_AUTH_WHITELIST']):
+        return flask.abort(500, '%s is not on PROXY_AUTH_WHITELIST' % flask.request.remote_addr)
+
+    email = flask.request.headers.get(app.config['PROXY_AUTH_HEADER'], None)
+    if not email:
+        return flask.abort(500, 'No %s header' % app.config['PROXY_AUTH_HEADER'])
+
+    user = models.User.get(email)
+    if user:
+        flask.session.regenerate()
+        flask_login.login_user(user)
+        return flask.redirect(app.config['WEB_ADMIN'] if target=='admin' else app.config['WEB_WEBMAIL'])
+    elif app.config['PROXY_AUTH_CREATE']:
+        localpart, desireddomain = email.split('@')
+        domain = models.Domain.query.get(desireddomain) or flask.abort(500, 'You don\'t exist. Go away! (domain=%s)' % desireddomain)
+        if not domain.max_users == -1 and len(domain.users) >= domain.max_users:
+            flask.current_app.logger.warning('Too many users for domain %s' % domain)
+            return flask.abort(500, 'Too many users in (domain=%s)' % domain)
+        user = models.User(localpart=localpart, domain=domain)
+        user.set_password(secrets.token_urlsafe())
+        models.db.session.add(user)
+        models.db.session.commit()
+        user.send_welcome()
+        client_ip = flask.request.headers.get('X-Real-IP', flask.request.remote_addr)
+        flask.current_app.logger.info(f'Login succeeded by proxy created user: {user} from {client_ip} through {flask.request.remote_addr}.')
+        return flask.redirect(app.config['WEB_ADMIN'] if target=='admin' else app.config['WEB_WEBMAIL'])
+    else:
+        return flask.abort(500, 'You don\'t exist. Go away! (%s)' % email)
diff --git a/docs/configuration.rst b/docs/configuration.rst
index 1a40bf65..b5affad6 100644
--- a/docs/configuration.rst
+++ b/docs/configuration.rst
@@ -362,3 +362,15 @@ It can be configured with the following option:
 When ``POSTFIX_LOG_FILE`` is enabled, the logrotate program will automatically rotate the 
 logs every week and keep 52 logs. To override the logrotate configuration, create the file logrotate.conf 
 with the desired configuration in the :ref:`Postfix overrides folder<override-label>`.
+
+
+Header authentication using an external proxy
+---------------------------------------------
+
+The ``PROXY_AUTH_WHITELIST`` (default: unset/disabled) option allows you to configure a comma separated list of CIDRs of proxies to trust for authentication. This list is separate from ``REAL_IP_FROM`` and any entry in ``PROXY_AUTH_WHITELIST`` should also appear in ``REAL_IP_FROM``.
+
+Use ``PROXY_AUTH_HEADER`` (default: 'X-Auth-Email') to customize which HTTP header the email address of the user to authenticate as should be and ``PROXY_AUTH_CREATE`` (default: False) to control whether non-existing accounts should be auto-created. Please note that Mailu doesn't currently support creating new users for non-existing domains; you do need to create all the domains that may be used manually.
+
+Once configured, any request to /sso/proxy will be redirected to the webmail and /sso/proxy/admin to the admin panel. Please check issue `1972` for more details.
+
+.. _`1972`: https://github.com/Mailu/Mailu/issues/1972
diff --git a/towncrier/newsfragments/1972.feature b/towncrier/newsfragments/1972.feature
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4efe45c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/towncrier/newsfragments/1972.feature
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Implement Header authentication via external proxy