diff --git a/api/src/config/globals.ts b/api/src/config/globals.ts
index 07369f479..729c51a7c 100644
--- a/api/src/config/globals.ts
+++ b/api/src/config/globals.ts
@@ -15,6 +15,9 @@ export default class Globals {
   static cookieName = "ctfnote-auth";
   static userAgent = "CTFNote";
 
+  static hedgedocCookieName = "connect.sid";
+  static hedgedocAuth = process.env.MD_AUTH == "true" || true;
+
   static adminRights = [Rights.ADMIN_ALL];
   static defaultRights = [];
 
@@ -36,5 +39,6 @@ export default class Globals {
       "allow-registration",
       Globals.allowRegistration
     );
+    Globals.hedgedocAuth = await PersistentConfiguration.setIfNotSet("hedgedoc-auth", Globals.hedgedocAuth);
   }
 }
diff --git a/api/src/controllers/auth.controller/login.action.ts b/api/src/controllers/auth.controller/login.action.ts
index 2b2e4d4f7..9dfea5f2b 100644
--- a/api/src/controllers/auth.controller/login.action.ts
+++ b/api/src/controllers/auth.controller/login.action.ts
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import PasswordUtil from "../../utils/password";
 import authLimiter from "../../ratelimits/auth";
 import { getConnection } from "typeorm";
 import SessionManager from "../../utils/session";
+import PadService from "../../services/pad";
 
 function deny(res: Response) {
   return res.status(403).json({ errors: [{ msg: `Invalid username/password` }] });
@@ -44,6 +45,12 @@ const LoginAction: IRoute = {
 
     if (!session) return deny(res);
 
+    //try to authenticate with HedgeDoc
+    let padCookie = await PadService.login(username, password);
+    if (padCookie != null) {
+      res.setHeader("Set-Cookie", padCookie);
+    }
+
     res.cookie(Globals.cookieName, session.uuid, {
       expires: session.expiresAt,
       httpOnly: true,
diff --git a/api/src/controllers/auth.controller/logout.action.ts b/api/src/controllers/auth.controller/logout.action.ts
index 0c6ad133b..6d7c595bc 100644
--- a/api/src/controllers/auth.controller/logout.action.ts
+++ b/api/src/controllers/auth.controller/logout.action.ts
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ const LogoutAction: IRoute = {
 
     if (logout) await SessionManager.invalidateSession(req.cookies[Globals.cookieName]);
 
+    res.clearCookie(Globals.hedgedocCookieName);
     return res.status(204).send();
   },
 };
diff --git a/api/src/controllers/auth.controller/register.action.ts b/api/src/controllers/auth.controller/register.action.ts
index 9072d598b..fef0f9192 100644
--- a/api/src/controllers/auth.controller/register.action.ts
+++ b/api/src/controllers/auth.controller/register.action.ts
@@ -11,8 +11,8 @@ import authLimiter from "../../ratelimits/auth";
 
 import makeSlug from "../../utils/slugify";
 import SessionManager from "../../utils/session";
-import Rights from "../../config/rights";
 import PersistentConfiguration from "../../config/persitent";
+import PadService from "../../services/pad";
 
 const RegisterAction: IRoute = {
   middlewares: [
@@ -42,7 +42,12 @@ const RegisterAction: IRoute = {
     const hash = await PasswordUtil.hash(password);
 
     const firstAccount = (await userRepo.count()) === 0;
-    let user = userRepo.create({ username, slug, password: hash, rights: firstAccount ? Globals.adminRights : Globals.defaultRights });
+    let user = userRepo.create({
+      username,
+      slug,
+      password: hash,
+      rights: firstAccount ? Globals.adminRights : Globals.defaultRights,
+    });
 
     try {
       user = await userRepo.save(user);
@@ -50,6 +55,13 @@ const RegisterAction: IRoute = {
       return res.status(409).json({ errors: [{ msg: "A user with that username already exists" }] });
     }
 
+    //try to authenticate with HedgeDoc
+    let padCookie = await PadService.register(username, req.body.password);
+    if (padCookie != null) {
+      padCookie = await PadService.login(username, req.body.password);
+      res.setHeader("Set-Cookie", padCookie);
+    }
+
     const session = await SessionManager.generateSession(user.slug);
     res.cookie(Globals.cookieName, session.uuid, {
       expires: session.expiresAt,
diff --git a/api/src/controllers/config.controller/update.action.ts b/api/src/controllers/config.controller/update.action.ts
index 9ea670471..20be196b4 100644
--- a/api/src/controllers/config.controller/update.action.ts
+++ b/api/src/controllers/config.controller/update.action.ts
@@ -19,11 +19,13 @@ const UpdateConfigAction: IRoute = {
       "md-create-url": mdCreateUrl,
       "md-show-url": mdShowUrl,
       "allow-registration": allowRegistration,
+      "hedgedoc-auth": hedgedocAuth,
     } = req.body;
 
     if (mdCreateUrl != null) await PersistentConfiguration.set("md-create-url", mdCreateUrl);
     if (mdShowUrl != null) await PersistentConfiguration.set("md-show-url", mdShowUrl);
     if (allowRegistration != null) await PersistentConfiguration.set("allow-registration", allowRegistration);
+    if (hedgedocAuth != null) await PersistentConfiguration.set("hedgedoc-auth", hedgedocAuth);
 
     return res.status(200).json(await PersistentConfiguration.list());
   },
diff --git a/api/src/services/pad.ts b/api/src/services/pad.ts
index 9baddd840..b960f14eb 100644
--- a/api/src/services/pad.ts
+++ b/api/src/services/pad.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 import Axios from "axios";
 import logger from "../config/logger";
 import PersistentConfiguration from "../config/persitent";
+import querystring from "querystring";
+import Globals from "../config/globals";
 
 export default class PadService {
   /**
@@ -22,4 +24,58 @@ export default class PadService {
       return "#";
     }
   }
+
+  private static async baseUrl(): Promise<string> {
+    let cleanUrl: string = await PersistentConfiguration.get("md-create-url");
+    cleanUrl = cleanUrl.slice(0, -4); //remove '/new' for clean url
+    return cleanUrl;
+  }
+
+  private static async authPad(username: string, password: string, url: URL): Promise<string> {
+    if (!Globals.hedgedocAuth) {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    let domain: string;
+    //if domain does not end in '.[tld]', it will be rejected
+    //so we add '.local' manually
+    if (url.hostname.split(".").length == 1) {
+      domain = `${url.hostname}.local`;
+    } else {
+      domain = url.hostname;
+    }
+
+    const email = `${username}@${domain}`;
+
+    try {
+      const res = await Axios.post(
+        url.toString(),
+        querystring.stringify({
+          email: email,
+          password: password,
+        }),
+        {
+          validateStatus: (status) => status === 302,
+          maxRedirects: 0,
+          timeout: 5000,
+          headers: { "Content-Type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded" },
+        }
+      );
+      return res.headers["set-cookie"];
+    } catch (e) {
+      logger.warn(`Could not auth to pad service: '${url.toString()}': `);
+      logger.fatal(e);
+      return null;
+    }
+  }
+
+  static async register(username: string, password: string): Promise<string> {
+    const authUrl = new URL(`${await this.baseUrl()}/register`);
+    return this.authPad(username, password, authUrl);
+  }
+
+  static async login(username: string, password: string): Promise<string> {
+    const authUrl = new URL(`${await this.baseUrl()}/login`);
+    return this.authPad(username, password, authUrl);
+  }
 }