diff --git a/Documentation/git.txt b/Documentation/git.txt
index a6d4ad0818..d36e6fd482 100644
--- a/Documentation/git.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git.txt
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ SYNOPSIS
     [--exec-path[=<path>]] [--html-path] [--man-path] [--info-path]
     [-p|--paginate|-P|--no-pager] [--no-replace-objects] [--bare]
     [--git-dir=<path>] [--work-tree=<path>] [--namespace=<name>]
-    [--super-prefix=<path>]
+    [--super-prefix=<path>] [--config-env <name>=<envvar>]
     <command> [<args>]
 
 DESCRIPTION
@@ -80,6 +80,28 @@ config file). Including the equals but with an empty value (like `git -c
 foo.bar= ...`) sets `foo.bar` to the empty string which `git config
 --type=bool` will convert to `false`.
 
+--config-env=<name>=<envvar>::
+	Like `-c <name>=<value>`, give configuration variable
+	'<name>' a value, where <envvar> is the name of an
+	environment variable from which to retrieve the value. Unlike
+	`-c` there is no shortcut for directly setting the value to an
+	empty string, instead the environment variable itself must be
+	set to the empty string.  It is an error if the `<envvar>` does not exist
+	in the environment. `<envvar>` may not contain an equals sign
+	to avoid ambiguity with `<name>`s which contain one.
++
+This is useful for cases where you want to pass transitory
+configuration options to git, but are doing so on OS's where
+other processes might be able to read your cmdline
+(e.g. `/proc/self/cmdline`), but not your environ
+(e.g. `/proc/self/environ`). That behavior is the default on
+Linux, but may not be on your system.
++
+Note that this might add security for variables such as
+`http.extraHeader` where the sensitive information is part of
+the value, but not e.g. `url.<base>.insteadOf` where the
+sensitive information can be part of the key.
+
 --exec-path[=<path>]::
 	Path to wherever your core Git programs are installed.
 	This can also be controlled by setting the GIT_EXEC_PATH
diff --git a/config.c b/config.c
index 1137bd73af..fd8c0c4dfc 100644
--- a/config.c
+++ b/config.c
@@ -345,6 +345,31 @@ void git_config_push_parameter(const char *text)
 	strbuf_release(&env);
 }
 
+void git_config_push_env(const char *spec)
+{
+	struct strbuf buf = STRBUF_INIT;
+	const char *env_name;
+	const char *env_value;
+
+	env_name = strrchr(spec, '=');
+	if (!env_name)
+		die(_("invalid config format: %s"), spec);
+	env_name++;
+	if (!*env_name)
+		die(_("missing environment variable name for configuration '%.*s'"),
+		    (int)(env_name - spec - 1), spec);
+
+	env_value = getenv(env_name);
+	if (!env_value)
+		die(_("missing environment variable '%s' for configuration '%.*s'"),
+		    env_name, (int)(env_name - spec - 1), spec);
+
+	strbuf_add(&buf, spec, env_name - spec);
+	strbuf_addstr(&buf, env_value);
+	git_config_push_parameter(buf.buf);
+	strbuf_release(&buf);
+}
+
 static inline int iskeychar(int c)
 {
 	return isalnum(c) || c == '-';
diff --git a/config.h b/config.h
index c1449bb790..19a9adbaa9 100644
--- a/config.h
+++ b/config.h
@@ -138,6 +138,7 @@ int git_config_from_mem(config_fn_t fn,
 int git_config_from_blob_oid(config_fn_t fn, const char *name,
 			     const struct object_id *oid, void *data);
 void git_config_push_parameter(const char *text);
+void git_config_push_env(const char *spec);
 int git_config_from_parameters(config_fn_t fn, void *data);
 void read_early_config(config_fn_t cb, void *data);
 void read_very_early_config(config_fn_t cb, void *data);
diff --git a/git.c b/git.c
index 5a8ff12f87..b5f63d346b 100644
--- a/git.c
+++ b/git.c
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ const char git_usage_string[] =
 	   "           [--exec-path[=<path>]] [--html-path] [--man-path] [--info-path]\n"
 	   "           [-p | --paginate | -P | --no-pager] [--no-replace-objects] [--bare]\n"
 	   "           [--git-dir=<path>] [--work-tree=<path>] [--namespace=<name>]\n"
-	   "           [--super-prefix=<path>]\n"
+	   "           [--super-prefix=<path>] [--config-env=<name>=<envvar>]\n"
 	   "           <command> [<args>]");
 
 const char git_more_info_string[] =
@@ -255,6 +255,8 @@ static int handle_options(const char ***argv, int *argc, int *envchanged)
 			git_config_push_parameter((*argv)[1]);
 			(*argv)++;
 			(*argc)--;
+		} else if (skip_prefix(cmd, "--config-env=", &cmd)) {
+			git_config_push_env(cmd);
 		} else if (!strcmp(cmd, "--literal-pathspecs")) {
 			setenv(GIT_LITERAL_PATHSPECS_ENVIRONMENT, "1", 1);
 			if (envchanged)
diff --git a/t/t1300-config.sh b/t/t1300-config.sh
index 97a04c6cc2..853f2509c5 100755
--- a/t/t1300-config.sh
+++ b/t/t1300-config.sh
@@ -1316,6 +1316,54 @@ test_expect_success 'detect bogus GIT_CONFIG_PARAMETERS' '
 		git config --get-regexp "env.*"
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'git --config-env=key=envvar support' '
+	cat >expect <<-\EOF &&
+	value
+	value
+	false
+	EOF
+	{
+		ENVVAR=value git --config-env=core.name=ENVVAR config core.name &&
+		ENVVAR=value git --config-env=foo.CamelCase=ENVVAR config foo.camelcase &&
+		ENVVAR= git --config-env=foo.flag=ENVVAR config --bool foo.flag
+	} >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'git --config-env fails with invalid parameters' '
+	test_must_fail git --config-env=foo.flag config --bool foo.flag 2>error &&
+	test_i18ngrep "invalid config format: foo.flag" error &&
+	test_must_fail git --config-env=foo.flag= config --bool foo.flag 2>error &&
+	test_i18ngrep "missing environment variable name for configuration ${SQ}foo.flag${SQ}" error &&
+	sane_unset NONEXISTENT &&
+	test_must_fail git --config-env=foo.flag=NONEXISTENT config --bool foo.flag 2>error &&
+	test_i18ngrep "missing environment variable ${SQ}NONEXISTENT${SQ} for configuration ${SQ}foo.flag${SQ}" error
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'git -c and --config-env work together' '
+	cat >expect <<-\EOF &&
+	bar.cmd cmd-value
+	bar.env env-value
+	EOF
+	ENVVAR=env-value git \
+		-c bar.cmd=cmd-value \
+		--config-env=bar.env=ENVVAR \
+		config --get-regexp "^bar.*" >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'git -c and --config-env override each other' '
+	cat >expect <<-\EOF &&
+	env
+	cmd
+	EOF
+	{
+		ENVVAR=env git -c bar.bar=cmd --config-env=bar.bar=ENVVAR config bar.bar &&
+		ENVVAR=env git --config-env=bar.bar=ENVVAR -c bar.bar=cmd config bar.bar
+	} >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'git config --edit works' '
 	git config -f tmp test.value no &&
 	echo test.value=yes >expect &&
