diff --git a/client/src/main/java/io/confluent/kafka/schemaregistry/client/rest/RestService.java b/client/src/main/java/io/confluent/kafka/schemaregistry/client/rest/RestService.java
index c0b4637f939..25ac000ff4d 100644
--- a/client/src/main/java/io/confluent/kafka/schemaregistry/client/rest/RestService.java
+++ b/client/src/main/java/io/confluent/kafka/schemaregistry/client/rest/RestService.java
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
+import javax.xml.bind.DatatypeConverter;
 
 /**
  * Rest access layer for sending requests to the schema registry.
@@ -132,9 +133,13 @@ private <T> T sendHttpRequest(String requestUrl, String method, byte[] requestBo
     HttpURLConnection connection = null;
     try {
       URL url = new URL(requestUrl);
+      String userInfo = url.getUserInfo();
       connection = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();
       connection.setRequestMethod(method);
-
+      if (userInfo != null) {
+        String authHeader = DatatypeConverter.printBase64Binary(userInfo.getBytes());
+        connection.setRequestProperty("Authorization", "Basic " + authHeader);
+      }
       // connection.getResponseCode() implicitly calls getInputStream, so always set to true.
       // On the other hand, leaving this out breaks nothing.
       connection.setDoInput(true);