diff --git a/includes/DefaultSettings.php b/includes/DefaultSettings.php
index 2dddcb5a2e2..0189be255eb 100644
--- a/includes/DefaultSettings.php
+++ b/includes/DefaultSettings.php
@@ -9675,6 +9675,8 @@ $wgHTTPProxy = '';
  * Local virtual hosts.
  *
  * This lists domains that are configured as virtual hosts on the same machine.
+ * It is expected that each domain can be identified by its hostname alone,
+ * without any ports.
  *
  * This affects the following:
  * - MWHttpRequest: If a request is to be made to a domain listed here, or any
@@ -9687,12 +9689,16 @@ $wgHTTPProxy = '';
 $wgLocalVirtualHosts = [];
 
 /**
- * Proxy to use to requests to domains in $wgLocalVirtualHosts
+ * Reverse proxy to use for requests to domains in $wgLocalVirtualHosts
  *
- * If set to false, no proxy will be used for local requests
+ * When used, any port in the request URL will be dropped. The behavior of
+ * redirects and cookies is dependent upon the reverse proxy actually in use,
+ * as MediaWiki doesn't implement any special handling for them.
+ *
+ * If set to false, no reverse proxy will be used for local requests.
  *
  * @var string|bool
- * @since 1.37
+ * @since 1.38
  */
 $wgLocalHTTPProxy = false;
 
diff --git a/includes/http/MWHttpRequest.php b/includes/http/MWHttpRequest.php
index b75905e0d3a..ef1025accf8 100644
--- a/includes/http/MWHttpRequest.php
+++ b/includes/http/MWHttpRequest.php
@@ -239,12 +239,47 @@ abstract class MWHttpRequest implements LoggerAwareInterface {
 		// Otherwise, fallback to $wgLocalHTTPProxy for local URLs
 		// or $wgHTTPProxy for everything else
 		if ( self::isLocalURL( $this->url ) ) {
-			$this->proxy = (string)$wgLocalHTTPProxy;
+			if ( $wgLocalHTTPProxy !== false ) {
+				$this->setReverseProxy( $wgLocalHTTPProxy );
+			}
 		} else {
 			$this->proxy = (string)$wgHTTPProxy;
 		}
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Enable use of a reverse proxy in which the hostname is
+	 * passed as a "Host" header, and the request is sent to the
+	 * proxy's host:port instead.
+	 *
+	 * Note that any custom port in the request URL will be lost
+	 * and cookies and redirects may not work properly.
+	 *
+	 * @param string $proxy URL of proxy
+	 */
+	protected function setReverseProxy( string $proxy ) {
+		$parsedProxy = wfParseUrl( $proxy );
+		if ( $parsedProxy === false ) {
+			throw new Exception( "Invalid reverseProxy configured: $proxy" );
+		}
+		// Set the current host in the Host header
+		$this->setHeader( 'Host', $this->parsedUrl['host'] );
+		// Set current protocol in X-Forwarded-Proto
+		// TODO: consider supporting the standardized "Forwarded" header too
+		$this->setHeader( 'X-Forwarded-Proto', $this->parsedUrl['scheme'] );
+		// Replace scheme, host and port in the request
+		$this->parsedUrl['scheme'] = $parsedProxy['scheme'];
+		$this->parsedUrl['host'] = $parsedProxy['host'];
+		if ( isset( $parsedProxy['port'] ) ) {
+			$this->parsedUrl['port'] = $parsedProxy['port'];
+		} else {
+			unset( $this->parsedUrl['port'] );
+		}
+		$this->url = wfAssembleUrl( $this->parsedUrl );
+		// Mark that we're already using a proxy
+		$this->noProxy = true;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Check if the URL can be served by localhost
 	 *
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/includes/http/MWHttpRequestTest.php b/tests/phpunit/includes/http/MWHttpRequestTest.php
index 714a4dc5d62..26e9596fe5c 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/includes/http/MWHttpRequestTest.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/includes/http/MWHttpRequestTest.php
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 <?php
 
+use Wikimedia\TestingAccessWrapper;
+
 /**
  * @covers MWHttpRequest
  */
@@ -85,4 +87,14 @@ class MWHttpRequestTest extends PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase {
 		$this->assertSame( $expect, MWHttpRequest::isValidURI( $uri ), $message );
 	}
 
+	public function testSetReverseProxy() {
+		$req = TestingAccessWrapper::newFromObject(
+			MWHttpRequest::factory( 'https://example.org/path?query=string' )
+		);
+		$req->setReverseProxy( 'http://localhost:1234' );
+		$this->assertSame( $req->url, 'http://localhost:1234/path?query=string' );
+		$this->assertSame( $req->reqHeaders['Host'], 'example.org' );
+		$this->assertSame( $req->reqHeaders['X-Forwarded-Proto'], 'https' );
+	}
+
 }