diff --git a/controllers/nginx/pkg/cmd/controller/nginx.go b/controllers/nginx/pkg/cmd/controller/nginx.go
index 9e2bb64d23a5..1032526ba091 100644
--- a/controllers/nginx/pkg/cmd/controller/nginx.go
+++ b/controllers/nginx/pkg/cmd/controller/nginx.go
@@ -101,6 +101,8 @@ type NGINXController struct {
 
 	configmap *api.ConfigMap
 
+	storeLister ingress.StoreLister
+
 	binary string
 }
 
@@ -281,6 +283,10 @@ func (n *NGINXController) SetConfig(cmap *api.ConfigMap) {
 	n.configmap = cmap
 }
 
+func (n *NGINXController) SetListers(lister ingress.StoreLister) {
+	n.storeLister = lister
+}
+
 // OnUpdate is called by syncQueue in https://github.com/aledbf/ingress-controller/blob/master/pkg/ingress/controller/controller.go#L82
 // periodically to keep the configuration in sync.
 //
@@ -324,7 +330,20 @@ func (n *NGINXController) OnUpdate(ingressCfg ingress.Configuration) ([]byte, er
 	// and we leave some room to avoid consuming all the FDs available
 	maxOpenFiles := (sysctlFSFileMax() / cfg.WorkerProcesses) - 1024
 
+	setHeaders := map[string]string{}
+	if cfg.ProxySetHeaders != "" {
+		cmap, exists, err := n.storeLister.ConfigMap.Get(cfg.ProxySetHeaders)
+		if err != nil {
+			glog.Warningf("unexpected error reading configmap %v: %v", cfg.ProxySetHeaders, err)
+		}
+
+		if exists {
+			setHeaders = cmap.(*api.ConfigMap).Data
+		}
+	}
+
 	return n.t.Write(config.TemplateConfig{
+		ProxySetHeaders:     setHeaders,
 		MaxOpenFiles:        maxOpenFiles,
 		BacklogSize:         sysctlSomaxconn(),
 		Backends:            ingressCfg.Backends,
diff --git a/controllers/nginx/pkg/config/config.go b/controllers/nginx/pkg/config/config.go
index c3dc11331c70..86971edcf765 100644
--- a/controllers/nginx/pkg/config/config.go
+++ b/controllers/nginx/pkg/config/config.go
@@ -152,6 +152,9 @@ type Configuration struct {
 	// of your external load balancer
 	ProxyRealIPCIDR string `json:"proxy-real-ip-cidr,omitempty"`
 
+	// Sets the name of the configmap that contains the headers to pass to the backend
+	ProxySetHeaders string `json:"proxy-set-headers,omitempty"`
+
 	// Maximum size of the server names hash tables used in server names, map directive’s values,
 	// MIME types, names of request header strings, etcd.
 	// http://nginx.org/en/docs/hash.html
@@ -283,6 +286,7 @@ func NewDefault() Configuration {
 
 // TemplateConfig contains the nginx configuration to render the file nginx.conf
 type TemplateConfig struct {
+	ProxySetHeaders     map[string]string
 	MaxOpenFiles        int
 	BacklogSize         int
 	Backends            []*ingress.Backend
diff --git a/controllers/nginx/rootfs/etc/nginx/template/nginx.tmpl b/controllers/nginx/rootfs/etc/nginx/template/nginx.tmpl
index c4f4c497f6f4..f55a5de75a08 100644
--- a/controllers/nginx/rootfs/etc/nginx/template/nginx.tmpl
+++ b/controllers/nginx/rootfs/etc/nginx/template/nginx.tmpl
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{{ $cfg := .Cfg }}{{ $healthzURI := .HealthzURI }}{{ $backends := .Backends }}
+{{ $cfg := .Cfg }}{{ $healthzURI := .HealthzURI }}{{ $backends := .Backends }}{{ $proxyHeaders := .ProxySetHeaders }}
 daemon off;
 
 worker_processes {{ $cfg.WorkerProcesses }};
@@ -307,6 +307,11 @@ http {
             # https://www.nginx.com/blog/mitigating-the-httpoxy-vulnerability-with-nginx/
             proxy_set_header Proxy                  "";
 
+            # Custom headers
+            {{ range $k, $v := $proxyHeaders }}
+            proxy_set_header {{ $k }}                    "{{ $v }}";
+            {{ end }}
+
             proxy_connect_timeout                   {{ $location.Proxy.ConnectTimeout }}s;
             proxy_send_timeout                      {{ $location.Proxy.SendTimeout }}s;
             proxy_read_timeout                      {{ $location.Proxy.ReadTimeout }}s;
diff --git a/core/pkg/ingress/controller/controller.go b/core/pkg/ingress/controller/controller.go
index 0fecef961de4..d12639aed054 100644
--- a/core/pkg/ingress/controller/controller.go
+++ b/core/pkg/ingress/controller/controller.go
@@ -304,6 +304,14 @@ func newIngressController(config *Configuration) *GenericController {
 
 	ic.annotations = newAnnotationExtractor(ic)
 
+	ic.cfg.Backend.SetListers(ingress.StoreLister{
+		Ingress:   ic.ingLister,
+		Service:   ic.svcLister,
+		Endpoint:  ic.endpLister,
+		Secret:    ic.secrLister,
+		ConfigMap: ic.mapLister,
+	})
+
 	return &ic
 }
 
diff --git a/core/pkg/ingress/types.go b/core/pkg/ingress/types.go
index 4891995e7e2b..3b7413831b15 100644
--- a/core/pkg/ingress/types.go
+++ b/core/pkg/ingress/types.go
@@ -18,8 +18,10 @@ package ingress
 
 import (
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/api"
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/client/cache"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/healthz"
 
+	cache_store "k8s.io/ingress/core/pkg/cache"
 	"k8s.io/ingress/core/pkg/ingress/annotations/auth"
 	"k8s.io/ingress/core/pkg/ingress/annotations/authreq"
 	"k8s.io/ingress/core/pkg/ingress/annotations/ipwhitelist"
@@ -81,6 +83,9 @@ type Controller interface {
 	OnUpdate(Configuration) ([]byte, error)
 	// ConfigMap content of --configmap
 	SetConfig(*api.ConfigMap)
+	// SetListers allows the access of store listers present in the generic controller
+	// This avoid the use of the kubernetes client.
+	SetListers(StoreLister)
 	// BackendDefaults returns the minimum settings required to configure the
 	// communication to endpoints
 	BackendDefaults() defaults.Backend
@@ -88,6 +93,16 @@ type Controller interface {
 	Info() *BackendInfo
 }
 
+// StoreLister returns the configured stores for ingresses, services,
+// endpoints, secrets and configmaps.
+type StoreLister struct {
+	Ingress   cache_store.StoreToIngressLister
+	Service   cache.StoreToServiceLister
+	Endpoint  cache.StoreToEndpointsLister
+	Secret    cache_store.StoreToSecretsLister
+	ConfigMap cache_store.StoreToConfigmapLister
+}
+
 // BackendInfo returns information about the backend.
 // This fields contains information that helps to track issues or to
 // map the running ingress controller to source code