diff --git a/docs/changelog/7.x.x.txt b/docs/changelog/7.x.x.txt
index 15b3e36d9..da8858682 100644
--- a/docs/changelog/7.x.x.txt
+++ b/docs/changelog/7.x.x.txt
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@
    easily.
  - Added comments aspect to wiki.
  - Removed cart icon from ViewCart macro.
+ - Added a basic auth mechanism to WebGUI, which will allow WebGUI to handle
+   authenticated web service queries.
  - Updated WebGUI::Shop::PayDriver::processTransaction() to accept a
    transaction as a param.
  - fixed: Select Slider borked in Thingy (SDH Consulting Group)
diff --git a/lib/WebGUI.pm b/lib/WebGUI.pm
index 5bc02a1e3..134eecb8e 100644
--- a/lib/WebGUI.pm
+++ b/lib/WebGUI.pm
@@ -20,12 +20,18 @@ our $STATUS = "beta";
 =cut
 
 use strict;
-use Apache2::Const -compile => qw(OK DECLINED);
+use Apache2::Access (); 
+use Apache2::Const -compile => qw(OK DECLINED HTTP_UNAUTHORIZED SERVER_ERROR);
 use Apache2::Request;
 use Apache2::RequestIO;
+use Apache2::RequestUtil ();
 use Apache2::ServerUtil ();
+use APR::Request::Apache2;
+use MIME::Base64;
 use WebGUI::Config;
 use WebGUI::Pluggable;
+use WebGUI::Session;
+use WebGUI::User;
 
 =head1 NAME
 
@@ -47,6 +53,67 @@ These subroutines are available from this package:
 
 #-------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+=head2 basicAuth ( requestObject, user, pass )
+
+HTTP Basic auth for WebGUI.
+
+=head3 requestObject
+
+The Apache2::RequestRec object passed in by Apache's mod_perl.
+
+=cut
+
+
+sub basicAuth {
+    my ($request, $username, $password) = @_;
+    my $server = Apache2::ServerUtil->server; 
+
+	my $config = WebGUI::Config->new($server->dir_config('WebguiRoot'),$request->dir_config('WebguiConfig'));
+	my $cookies = APR::Request::Apache2->handle($request)->jar();
+   
+	# determine session id
+	my $sessionId = $cookies->{$config->getCookieName};
+	my $session = WebGUI::Session->open($server->dir_config('WebguiRoot'),$request->dir_config('WebguiConfig'), $request, $server, $sessionId);
+	my $log = $session->log;
+	$request->pnotes(wgSession => $session);
+
+	if (defined $sessionId && $session->user->isRegistered) { # got a session id passed in or from a cookie
+		$log->info("BASIC AUTH: using cookie");
+		return;
+	}
+	elsif (defined $username && $username ne "") { # no session cookie, let's try to do basic auth
+		$log->info("BASIC AUTH: using user/pass");
+		my $user = WebGUI::User->newByUsername($session, $username);
+		if (defined $user) {
+			my $authMethod = $user->authMethod;
+			if ($authMethod) { # we have an auth method, let's try to instantiate
+				my $auth = eval { WebGUI::Pluggable::instanciate("WebGUI::Auth::".$authMethod, "new", [ $session, $authMethod ] ) };
+				if ($@) { # got an error
+					$log->error($@);
+					return;
+				}
+				elsif ($auth->authenticate($username, $password)) { # lets try to authenticate
+					$sessionId = $session->db->quickScalar("select sessionId from userSession where userId=?",[$user->userId]);
+					unless (defined $sessionId) { # no existing session found
+						$sessionId = $session->id->generate;
+						$auth->_logLogin($user->userId, "success (HTTP Basic)");
+					}
+					$session->{_var} = WebGUI::Session::Var->new($session, $sessionId);
+					$session->user({user=>$user});
+					return;
+				}
+			}
+		}
+		$log->security($username." failed to login using HTTP Basic Authentication");
+		$request->note_basic_auth_failure;
+		return;
+	}
+	$log->info("BASIC AUTH: skipping");
+	return;
+}
+
+#-------------------------------------------------------------------
+
 =head2 handler ( requestObject )
 
 Primary http init/response handler for WebGUI.  This method decides whether to hand off the request to contentHandler() or uploadsHandler()
@@ -68,6 +135,15 @@ sub handler {
     my $gateway = $config->get("gateway");
     $matchUri =~ s{^$gateway}{/};
 	my $gotMatch = 0;
+
+	# handle basic auth
+	my $auth = $request->headers_in->{'Authorization'};
+    if ($auth) {
+		$auth =~ s/Basic //;
+		basicAuth($request, split(":",MIME::Base64::decode_base64($auth)));
+    }
+
+	# url handlers
     WEBGUI_FATAL: foreach my $handler (@{$config->get("urlHandlers")}) {
         my ($regex) = keys %{$handler};
         if ($matchUri =~ m{$regex}i) {
diff --git a/lib/WebGUI/URL/Content.pm b/lib/WebGUI/URL/Content.pm
index 75fba546c..1a188ba26 100644
--- a/lib/WebGUI/URL/Content.pm
+++ b/lib/WebGUI/URL/Content.pm
@@ -51,7 +51,10 @@ The Apache request handler for this package.
 sub handler {
     my ($request, $server, $config) = @_;
     $request->push_handlers(PerlResponseHandler => sub {
-        my $session = WebGUI::Session->open($server->dir_config('WebguiRoot'), $config->getFilename, $request, $server);
+        my $session = $request->pnotes('wgSession');
+        unless (defined $session) {
+            $session = WebGUI::Session->open($server->dir_config('WebguiRoot'), $config->getFilename, $request, $server);
+        }
         WEBGUI_FATAL: foreach my $handler (@{$config->get("contentHandlers")}) {
             my $output = eval { WebGUI::Pluggable::run($handler, "handler", [ $session ] )};
             if ( my $e = WebGUI::Error->caught ) {
diff --git a/lib/WebGUI/URL/Uploads.pm b/lib/WebGUI/URL/Uploads.pm
index cf1067a26..2c9e41112 100644
--- a/lib/WebGUI/URL/Uploads.pm
+++ b/lib/WebGUI/URL/Uploads.pm
@@ -60,7 +60,10 @@ sub handler {
 			    close($FILE);
 			    my @privs = split("\n", $fileContents);
 			    unless ($privs[1] eq "7" || $privs[1] eq "1") {
-				    my $session = WebGUI::Session->open($server->dir_config('WebguiRoot'), $config->getFilename, $request, $server);
+					my $session = $request->pnotes('wgSession');
+					unless (defined $session) {
+						$session = WebGUI::Session->open($server->dir_config('WebguiRoot'), $config->getFilename, $request, $server);
+					}
 				    my $hasPrivs = ($session->var->get("userId") eq $privs[0] || $session->user->isInGroup($privs[1]) || $session->user->isInGroup($privs[2]));
 				    $session->close();
 				    if ($hasPrivs) {