diff --git a/lib/user/http.php b/lib/user/http.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..009aa30c6f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/user/http.php
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+<?php
+
+/**
+* ownCloud
+*
+* @author Frank Karlitschek
+* @copyright 2012 Robin Appelman icewind@owncloud.com
+*
+* This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+* modify it under the terms of the GNU AFFERO GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
+* License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
+* version 3 of the License, or any later version.
+*
+* This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+* but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+* MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+* GNU AFFERO GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE for more details.
+*
+* You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public
+* License along with this library.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+*
+*/
+
+/**
+ * user backend using http auth requests
+ */
+class OC_User_HTTP extends OC_User_Backend {
+	/**
+	 * split http://user@host/path into a user and url part
+	 * @param string path
+	 * @return array
+	 */
+	private function parseUrl($url){
+		$parts=parse_url($url);
+		$url=$parts['scheme'].'://'.$parts['host'];
+		if(isset($parts['port'])){
+			$url.=':'.$parts['port'];
+		}
+		$url.=$parts['path'];
+		if(isset($parts['query'])){
+			$url.='?'.$parts['query'];
+		}
+		return array($parts['user'],$url);
+		
+	}
+	
+	/**
+	 * check if an url is a valid login
+	 * @param string url
+	 * @return boolean
+	 */
+	private function matchUrl($url){
+		return ! is_null(parse_url($url,PHP_URL_USER));
+	}
+	
+	/**
+	 * @brief Check if the password is correct
+	 * @param $uid The username
+	 * @param $password The password
+	 * @returns string
+	 *
+	 * Check if the password is correct without logging in the user
+	 * returns the user id or false
+	 */
+	public function checkPassword($uid, $password){
+		if(!$this->matchUrl($uid)){
+			return false;
+		}
+		list($user,$url)=$this->parseUrl($uid);
+		
+		$ch = curl_init();
+		curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
+		curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERPWD, $user.':'.$password);
+		curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
+
+		curl_exec($ch);
+
+		$status = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
+		
+		curl_close($ch);
+
+		return $status==200;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @brief check if a user exists
+	 * @param string $uid the username
+	 * @return boolean
+	 */
+	public function userExists($uid){
+		return $this->matchUrl($uid);
+	}
+}
\ No newline at end of file