diff --git a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/contentstore/mongo.py b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/contentstore/mongo.py
index b5235e6745..9a99006e61 100644
--- a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/contentstore/mongo.py
+++ b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/contentstore/mongo.py
@@ -14,9 +14,13 @@ from xmodule.exceptions import NotFoundError
 
 
 class MongoContentStore(ContentStore):
-    def __init__(self, host, db, port=27017):
+    def __init__(self, host, db, port=27017, user=None, password=None, **kwargs):
         logging.debug( 'Using MongoDB for static content serving at host={0} db={1}'.format(host,db))
-        _db = Connection(host=host, port=port)[db]
+        _db = Connection(host=host, port=port, **kwargs)[db]
+
+        if self.user is not None and self.password is not None:
+            _db.authenticate(user, password)
+
         self.fs = gridfs.GridFS(_db)
         self.fs_files = _db["fs.files"] # the underlying collection GridFS uses
 
diff --git a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/mongo.py b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/mongo.py
index 30ae5c7539..164bfd3590 100644
--- a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/mongo.py
+++ b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/mongo.py
@@ -97,15 +97,21 @@ class MongoModuleStore(ModuleStoreBase):
     # TODO (cpennington): Enable non-filesystem filestores
     def __init__(self, host, db, collection, fs_root, render_template,
                  port=27017, default_class=None,
-                 error_tracker=null_error_tracker):
+                 error_tracker=null_error_tracker,
+                 user=None, password=None, **kwargs):
 
         ModuleStoreBase.__init__(self)
 
         self.collection = pymongo.connection.Connection(
             host=host,
-            port=port
+            port=port,
+            **kwargs
         )[db][collection]
 
+        if user is not None and password is not None:
+            self.collection.database.authenticate(user, password)
+
+
         # Force mongo to report errors, at the expense of performance
         self.collection.safe = True