diff --git a/doc/changelog.md b/doc/changelog.md
index c579e79d3..b86588218 100644
--- a/doc/changelog.md
+++ b/doc/changelog.md
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@
 
 * **0.22-SNAPSHOT**
   - Support relative paths when binding volumes in `docker-compose.yml` (#846)
-  - Allo the session token for AWS authetication to be oncluded in order to allow temporary security credentials provided by the AWS Security Token Service (AWS STS) to sign requests (#883)
+  - Allow  the session token for AWS authetication to be oncluded in order to allow temporary security credentials provided by the AWS Security Token Service (AWS STS) to sign requests (#883)
+  - Add support for credential helper to authenticate against a registry (#821)
 
 * **0.22.1** (2017-08-28)
   - Allow Docker compose version "2", too ([#829](https://github.com/fabric8io/docker-maven-plugin/issues/829))
diff --git a/src/main/java/io/fabric8/maven/docker/util/AuthConfigFactory.java b/src/main/java/io/fabric8/maven/docker/util/AuthConfigFactory.java
index e36f0efc0..b7a4d4f83 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/fabric8/maven/docker/util/AuthConfigFactory.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/fabric8/maven/docker/util/AuthConfigFactory.java
@@ -317,36 +317,40 @@ private AuthConfig getAuthConfigFromDockerConfig(String registry) throws MojoExe
             if (dockerConfig.has("credHelpers")) {
                 final JSONObject credHelpers = dockerConfig.getJSONObject("credHelpers");
                 if (credHelpers.has(registryToLookup)) {
-                    CredentialHelperClient credentialHelper = new CredentialHelperClient(log,credHelpers.getString(registryToLookup));
-                    log.debug("AuthConfig: credentials from credential helper %s version %s",credentialHelper.getName(),credentialHelper.getVersion());
-
-                    // "The default credential store will not be used for operations concerning credentials of the specified registries."
-                    return credentialHelper.getCredentialNode(registryToLookup);
+                    return extractAuthConfigFromCredentialsHelper(registryToLookup, credHelpers.getString(registryToLookup));
                 }
             }
             if (dockerConfig.has("credsStore")) {
-                CredentialHelperClient credentialStore = new CredentialHelperClient(log,dockerConfig.getString("credsStore"));
-                log.debug("AuthConfig: credentials from credentials store %s version %s",credentialStore.getName(),credentialStore.getVersion());
-
-                return credentialStore.getCredentialNode(registryToLookup);
+                return extractAuthConfigFromCredentialsHelper(registryToLookup, dockerConfig.getString("credsStore"));
             }
             return null;
         }
 
         if (dockerConfig.has("auths")) {
-            JSONObject auths = dockerConfig.getJSONObject("auths");
-            JSONObject credentials = getCredentialsNode(auths,registryToLookup);
-            if (credentials == null || !credentials.has("auth")) {
-                return null;
-            }
-            String auth = credentials.getString("auth");
-            String email = credentials.has("email") ? credentials.getString("email") : null;
-            return new AuthConfig(auth,email);
+            return extractAuthConfigFromAuths(registryToLookup, dockerConfig.getJSONObject("auths"));
         }
 
         return null;
     }
 
+    private AuthConfig extractAuthConfigFromAuths(String registryToLookup, JSONObject auths) {
+        JSONObject credentials = getCredentialsNode(auths,registryToLookup);
+        if (credentials == null || !credentials.has("auth")) {
+            return null;
+        }
+        String auth = credentials.getString("auth");
+        String email = credentials.has("email") ? credentials.getString("email") : null;
+        return new AuthConfig(auth,email);
+    }
+
+    private AuthConfig extractAuthConfigFromCredentialsHelper(String registryToLookup, String credConfig) throws MojoExecutionException {
+        CredentialHelperClient credentialHelper = new CredentialHelperClient(log, credConfig);
+        log.debug("AuthConfig: credentials from credential helper/store %s version %s",
+                  credentialHelper.getName(),
+                  credentialHelper.getVersion());
+        return credentialHelper.getAuthConfig(registryToLookup);
+    }
+
     private JSONObject getCredentialsNode(JSONObject auths,String registryToLookup) {
         if (auths.has(registryToLookup)) {
             return auths.getJSONObject(registryToLookup);
diff --git a/src/main/java/io/fabric8/maven/docker/util/CredentialHelperClient.java b/src/main/java/io/fabric8/maven/docker/util/CredentialHelperClient.java
index c53aeb1ec..e4a0d2ce4 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/fabric8/maven/docker/util/CredentialHelperClient.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/fabric8/maven/docker/util/CredentialHelperClient.java
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ public class CredentialHelperClient {
     private final String credentialHelperName;
     private final Logger log;
 
-    public CredentialHelperClient(Logger log,String credentialsStore) {
+    public CredentialHelperClient(Logger log, String credentialsStore) {
         this.log = log;
         credentialHelperName = "docker-credential-" + credentialsStore;
     }
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ public String getVersion() throws MojoExecutionException {
         }
     }
 
-    public AuthConfig getCredentialNode(String registryToLookup) throws MojoExecutionException {
+    public AuthConfig getAuthConfig(String registryToLookup) throws MojoExecutionException {
         try {
             final GetCommand getCommand = new GetCommand();
             return toAuthConfig(getCommand.getCredentialNode("https://" + registryToLookup));