diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.http.apache/src/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/http/apache/HttpClientConnection.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.http.apache/src/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/http/apache/HttpClientConnection.java
index f92c5df79..9d9e2f882 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.http.apache/src/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/http/apache/HttpClientConnection.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.http.apache/src/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/http/apache/HttpClientConnection.java
@@ -92,6 +92,7 @@
 import org.apache.http.conn.ssl.SSLConnectionSocketFactory;
 import org.apache.http.impl.client.HttpClientBuilder;
 import org.apache.http.impl.client.HttpClients;
+import org.apache.http.impl.client.SystemDefaultCredentialsProvider;
 import org.apache.http.impl.conn.BasicHttpClientConnectionManager;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.annotations.NonNull;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.transport.http.HttpConnection;
@@ -165,6 +166,8 @@ private HttpClient getClient() {
 						new BasicHttpClientConnectionManager(registry));
 			}
 			clientBuilder.setDefaultRequestConfig(configBuilder.build());
+			clientBuilder.setDefaultCredentialsProvider(
+					new SystemDefaultCredentialsProvider());
 			client = clientBuilder.build();
 		}