diff --git a/lib/SimpleSAML/Utils/HTTP.php b/lib/SimpleSAML/Utils/HTTP.php
index 7aaa1977987efa1fd10b67d636136af3f2195430..b73cf1302a5c3ca321fa67b0c959acda042f8a76 100644
--- a/lib/SimpleSAML/Utils/HTTP.php
+++ b/lib/SimpleSAML/Utils/HTTP.php
@@ -336,7 +336,8 @@ class HTTP
 
 
     /**
-     * Helper function to retrieve a file or URL with proxy support.
+     * Helper function to retrieve a file or URL with proxy support, also 
+     * supporting proxy basic authorization..
      *
      * An exception will be thrown if we are unable to retrieve the data.
      *
@@ -361,10 +362,14 @@ class HTTP
         $config = \SimpleSAML_Configuration::getInstance();
 
         $proxy = $config->getString('proxy', null);
+        $proxy_auth = $config->getString('proxy.auth', false);
         if ($proxy !== null) {
             if (!isset($context['http']['proxy'])) {
                 $context['http']['proxy'] = $proxy;
             }
+            if ($proxy_auth !== false) ) {
+                $context['http']['header'] = "Proxy-Authorization: Basic".base64_encode($proxy_auth);
+            }
             if (!isset($context['http']['request_fulluri'])) {
                 $context['http']['request_fulluri'] = true;
             }