diff --git a/LibreNMS/IRCBot.php b/LibreNMS/IRCBot.php
index 4be9b634aa..4b9d9737b9 100644
--- a/LibreNMS/IRCBot.php
+++ b/LibreNMS/IRCBot.php
@@ -319,6 +319,9 @@ class IRCBot
         $this->command = str_replace(':.', '', $this->command);
         $tmp           = explode(':.'.$this->command.' ', $this->data);
         $this->user    = $this->getAuthdUser();
+        if (!$this->isAuthd() && (isset($this->config['irc_auth']))) {
+            $this->hostAuth();
+        }
         if ($this->isAuthd() || trim($this->command) == 'auth') {
             $this->proceedCommand(str_replace("\n", '', trim($this->command)), trim($tmp[1]));
         }
@@ -366,6 +369,11 @@ class IRCBot
         return str_replace(':', '', $arrData[0]);
     }//end getUser()
 
+    private function getUserHost($param)
+    {
+        $arrData = explode(' ', $param, 2);
+        return str_replace(':', '', $arrData[0]);
+    }//end getUserHost()
 
     private function connect($try = 0)
     {
@@ -471,7 +479,38 @@ class IRCBot
     private function getAuthdUser()
     {
         return $this->authd[$this->getUser($this->data)];
-    }//end get_user()
+    }//end getAuthUser()
+
+    private function hostAuth()
+    {
+        foreach ($this->config['irc_auth'] as $nms_user => $hosts) {
+            foreach ($hosts as $host) {
+                $host = preg_replace("/\*/", ".*", $host);
+                if (preg_match("/$host/", $this->getUserHost($this->data))) {
+                    $user_id = get_userid(mres($nms_user));
+                    $user = get_user($user_id);
+                    $this->user['name'] = $user['username'];
+                    $this->user['id']   = $user_id;
+                    $this->user['level'] = get_userlevel($user['username']);
+                    $this->user['expire'] = (time() + ($this->config['irc_authtime'] * 3600));
+                    if ($this->user['level'] < 5) {
+                        foreach (dbFetchRows('SELECT device_id FROM devices_perms WHERE user_id = ?', array($this->user['id'])) as $tmp) {
+                            $this->user['devices'][] = $tmp['device_id'];
+                        }
+
+                        foreach (dbFetchRows('SELECT port_id FROM ports_perms WHERE user_id = ?', array($this->user['id'])) as $tmp) {
+                            $this->user['ports'][] = $tmp['port_id'];
+                        }
+                    }
+                    if ($this->debug) {
+                        $this->log("HostAuth on irc for '".$user['username']."', ID: '".$user_id."', Host: '".$host);
+                    }
+                    return true;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        return false;
+    }//end hostAuth
 
 
     private function ircRaw($params)
diff --git a/doc/Extensions/IRC-Bot.md b/doc/Extensions/IRC-Bot.md
index 8c4e0688db..d37a219313 100644
--- a/doc/Extensions/IRC-Bot.md
+++ b/doc/Extensions/IRC-Bot.md
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ Option | Default-Value | Notes
 `$config['irc_nick']` | `LibreNMS` | Optional;
 `$config['irc_pass']` |  | Optional; This sends the IRC-PASS Sequence to IRC-Servers that require Password on Connect
 `$config['irc_port']` | `6667` | Required; To enable SSL append a `+` before the Port. (Example: `+6697`)
+`$config['irc_auth']` |  | Optional: Array of hostmasks that are automatically authenticated.  
 
 ### <a name="commands">IRC-Commands</a>
 
@@ -102,6 +103,15 @@ Or using a single string using `,` as delimiter between various channels:
    $config['irc_chan'] = "#librenms,#otherchan,#noc";
    ...
 ```
+### Hostmask authentication:
+```php
+   ...
+   $config['irc_auth']['admin'][] = "*!root@nms.host.invalid";
+   $config['irc_auth']['admin'][] = "*!*peter@peters.computer.invalid";
+   $config['irc_auth']['john][] = "john!doe@login.server.invalid";
+   ...
+```
+Any client matching one of the first two hostmasks will automatically be authenticated as the "admin" user in LibreNMS, and clients matching the last line will be authenticated as the user "john" in LibreNMS, without using .auth and a waiting for a valid token.
 
 # <a name="extensions">Extensions?!</a>