diff --git a/plugin/pkg/auth/authenticator/request/headerrequest/requestheader.go b/plugin/pkg/auth/authenticator/request/headerrequest/requestheader.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4bb1b93c69b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugin/pkg/auth/authenticator/request/headerrequest/requestheader.go
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2016 The Kubernetes Authors.
+
+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
+
+    http://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 headerrequest
+
+import (
+	"crypto/x509"
+	"fmt"
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"net/http"
+	"strings"
+
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/auth/authenticator"
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/auth/user"
+	utilcert "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/util/cert"
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/util/sets"
+	x509request "k8s.io/kubernetes/plugin/pkg/auth/authenticator/request/x509"
+)
+
+type requestHeaderAuthRequestHandler struct {
+	nameHeaders []string
+}
+
+func New(nameHeaders []string) (authenticator.Request, error) {
+	headers := []string{}
+	for _, headerName := range nameHeaders {
+		trimmedHeader := strings.TrimSpace(headerName)
+		if len(trimmedHeader) == 0 {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("empty header %q", headerName)
+		}
+		headers = append(headers, trimmedHeader)
+	}
+
+	return &requestHeaderAuthRequestHandler{nameHeaders: headers}, nil
+}
+
+func NewSecure(clientCA string, proxyClientNames []string, nameHeaders []string) (authenticator.Request, error) {
+	headerAuthenticator, err := New(nameHeaders)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	if len(clientCA) == 0 {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("missing clientCA file")
+	}
+
+	// Wrap with an x509 verifier
+	caData, err := ioutil.ReadFile(clientCA)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error reading %s: %v", clientCA, err)
+	}
+	opts := x509request.DefaultVerifyOptions()
+	opts.Roots = x509.NewCertPool()
+	certs, err := utilcert.ParseCertsPEM(caData)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error loading certs from  %s: %v", clientCA, err)
+	}
+	for _, cert := range certs {
+		opts.Roots.AddCert(cert)
+	}
+
+	return x509request.NewVerifier(opts, headerAuthenticator, sets.NewString(proxyClientNames...)), nil
+}
+
+func (a *requestHeaderAuthRequestHandler) AuthenticateRequest(req *http.Request) (user.Info, bool, error) {
+	name := headerValue(req.Header, a.nameHeaders)
+	if len(name) == 0 {
+		return nil, false, nil
+	}
+
+	return &user.DefaultInfo{Name: name}, true, nil
+}
+
+func headerValue(h http.Header, headerNames []string) string {
+	for _, headerName := range headerNames {
+		headerValue := h.Get(headerName)
+		if len(headerValue) > 0 {
+			return headerValue
+		}
+	}
+	return ""
+}
diff --git a/plugin/pkg/auth/authenticator/request/headerrequest/requestheader_test.go b/plugin/pkg/auth/authenticator/request/headerrequest/requestheader_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..75402ab64e5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugin/pkg/auth/authenticator/request/headerrequest/requestheader_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2016 The Kubernetes Authors.
+
+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
+
+    http://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 headerrequest
+
+import (
+	"net/http"
+	"reflect"
+	"testing"
+
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/auth/user"
+)
+
+func TestRequestHeader(t *testing.T) {
+	testcases := map[string]struct {
+		nameHeaders    []string
+		requestHeaders http.Header
+
+		expectedUser user.Info
+		expectedOk   bool
+	}{
+		"empty": {},
+		"no match": {
+			nameHeaders: []string{"X-Remote-User"},
+		},
+		"match": {
+			nameHeaders:    []string{"X-Remote-User"},
+			requestHeaders: http.Header{"X-Remote-User": {"Bob"}},
+			expectedUser:   &user.DefaultInfo{Name: "Bob"},
+			expectedOk:     true,
+		},
+		"exact match": {
+			nameHeaders: []string{"X-Remote-User"},
+			requestHeaders: http.Header{
+				"Prefixed-X-Remote-User-With-Suffix": {"Bob"},
+				"X-Remote-User-With-Suffix":          {"Bob"},
+			},
+		},
+		"first match": {
+			nameHeaders: []string{
+				"X-Remote-User",
+				"A-Second-X-Remote-User",
+				"Another-X-Remote-User",
+			},
+			requestHeaders: http.Header{
+				"X-Remote-User":          {"", "First header, second value"},
+				"A-Second-X-Remote-User": {"Second header, first value", "Second header, second value"},
+				"Another-X-Remote-User":  {"Third header, first value"}},
+			expectedUser: &user.DefaultInfo{Name: "Second header, first value"},
+			expectedOk:   true,
+		},
+		"case-insensitive": {
+			nameHeaders:    []string{"x-REMOTE-user"},             // configured headers can be case-insensitive
+			requestHeaders: http.Header{"X-Remote-User": {"Bob"}}, // the parsed headers are normalized by the http package
+			expectedUser:   &user.DefaultInfo{Name: "Bob"},
+			expectedOk:     true,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for k, testcase := range testcases {
+		auth, err := New(testcase.nameHeaders)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		req := &http.Request{Header: testcase.requestHeaders}
+
+		user, ok, _ := auth.AuthenticateRequest(req)
+		if testcase.expectedOk != ok {
+			t.Errorf("%v: expected %v, got %v", k, testcase.expectedOk, ok)
+		}
+		if e, a := testcase.expectedUser, user; !reflect.DeepEqual(e, a) {
+			t.Errorf("%v: expected %#v, got %#v", k, e, a)
+
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/test/test_owners.csv b/test/test_owners.csv
index 629b0810ed6..617ea14515e 100644
--- a/test/test_owners.csv
+++ b/test/test_owners.csv
@@ -839,6 +839,7 @@ k8s.io/kubernetes/plugin/pkg/auth/authenticator/password/allow,liggitt,0
 k8s.io/kubernetes/plugin/pkg/auth/authenticator/password/passwordfile,liggitt,0
 k8s.io/kubernetes/plugin/pkg/auth/authenticator/request/anonymous,ixdy,1
 k8s.io/kubernetes/plugin/pkg/auth/authenticator/request/basicauth,liggitt,0
+k8s.io/kubernetes/plugin/pkg/auth/authenticator/request/headerrequest,deads2k,0
 k8s.io/kubernetes/plugin/pkg/auth/authenticator/request/union,liggitt,0
 k8s.io/kubernetes/plugin/pkg/auth/authenticator/request/x509,liggitt,0
 k8s.io/kubernetes/plugin/pkg/auth/authenticator/token/anytoken,timstclair,1