diff --git a/lms/envs/aws_appsembler.py b/lms/envs/aws_appsembler.py
index 2b2345956095..e9144142a13c 100644
--- a/lms/envs/aws_appsembler.py
+++ b/lms/envs/aws_appsembler.py
@@ -116,3 +116,8 @@
 CUSTOM_SSO_FIELDS_SYNC = ENV_TOKENS.get('CUSTOM_SSO_FIELDS_SYNC', {})
 
 HTTPS = ENV_TOKENS.get('BASE_SCHEME', 'https').lower() == 'http' and 'off' or 'on'
+
+#configure auth backends
+if 'LMS_AUTHENTICATION_BACKENDS' in APPSEMBLER_FEATURES.keys():
+    #default behavior is to replace the existing backends with those in APPSEMBLER_FEATURES
+    AUTHENTICATION_BACKENDS = tuple(APPSEMBLER_FEATURES['LMS_AUTHENTICATION_BACKENDS'])
diff --git a/lms/envs/devstack_appsembler.py b/lms/envs/devstack_appsembler.py
index 8c092bd5ad1d..06586fea8d04 100644
--- a/lms/envs/devstack_appsembler.py
+++ b/lms/envs/devstack_appsembler.py
@@ -105,3 +105,8 @@
 CUSTOM_SSO_FIELDS_SYNC = ENV_TOKENS.get('CUSTOM_SSO_FIELDS_SYNC', {})
 # to allow to run python-saml with custom port
 SP_SAML_RESTRICT_MODE = False
+
+#configure auth backends
+if 'LMS_AUTHENTICATION_BACKENDS' in APPSEMBLER_FEATURES.keys():
+    #default behavior is to replace the existing backends with those in APPSEMBLER_FEATURES
+    AUTHENTICATION_BACKENDS = tuple(APPSEMBLER_FEATURES['LMS_AUTHENTICATION_BACKENDS'])