diff --git a/database.php b/database.php
index 558ed7f..81ee122 100644
--- a/database.php
+++ b/database.php
@@ -4,9 +4,9 @@
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
  * You may obtain a copy of the License at
- * 
+ *
  * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
- * 
+ *
  * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
  * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
  * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
@@ -304,6 +304,24 @@ class mxDatabase
 		return NULL;
 	}
 
+	function updatePassword($localpart, $old_password, $new_password) {
+		$user = $this->getUserForLogin($localpart, $old_password);
+		if ($user != NULL) {
+		    throw new Exception ("user with that credentials not found");
+		}
+
+		// The credentials were fine. So now set the new password
+		$password_hash = password_hash($new_password, PASSWORD_BCRYPT, ["cost"=>12]);
+
+		$sql = "UPDATE logins SET password_hash = '" . $password_hash . "'"
+			. "WHERE localpart = '" . $localpart . "'";
+
+		if ($this->db->exec($sql)) {
+			return true;
+		}
+		return false;
+	}
+
 	function searchUserByName($search_term) {
 		$term = filter_var($search_term, FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);
 		$result = array();
diff --git a/helpers.php b/helpers.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b77d512
--- /dev/null
+++ b/helpers.php
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+<?php
+function stripLocalpart($mxid) {
+	$localpart = NULL;
+	if (!empty($mxid)) {
+		// A mxid would start with an @ so we start at the 2. position
+		$sepPos = strpos($mxid,':', 1);
+		if ($sepPos === false) {
+			// : not found. Assume mxid is localpart
+			// TODO: further checks
+			$localpart = $mxid;
+		} else {
+			$localpart = substr($mxid, 1, strpos($mxid,':') - 1 );
+		}
+	}
+	return $localpart;
+}
+
+?>
diff --git a/internal/intercept_change_password.php b/internal/intercept_change_password.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..36d1b9e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/intercept_change_password.php
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * Copyright 2018 Matthias Kesler
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+// URL for this: /_matrix/client/r0/account/password?access_token=$ACCESS_TOKEN
+$response=[
+	"errcode" => "M_UNKNOWN",
+	"error" => "Unknown error while handling password changing",
+];
+header('Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *');
+header('Access-Control-Allow-Methods: POST, OPTIONS');
+header('Access-Control-Allow-Headers: Origin, X-Requested-With, Content-Type, Accept, Authorization');
+if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] === 'OPTIONS') {
+	$response = [];
+	// return with success
+	exit();
+}
+try {
+	$inputJSON = file_get_contents('php://input');
+	$input = json_decode($inputJSON, TRUE);
+	if (empty($input)) {
+		throw new Exception('no valid json as input present');
+	}
+	if (!isset($input["auth"])) {
+		throw new Exception('"auth" is not defined');
+	}
+	if (!isset($input["auth"]["user"]) || !isset($input["auth"]["password"])) {
+		throw new Exception('"auth.user" or "auth.password" is not defined');
+	}
+	if (!isset($input["auth"]["type"]) || $input["auth"]["type"] !== "m.login.password") {
+		throw new Exception('no or unknown auth.type');
+	}
+	if (!isset($input["new_password"])) {
+		throw new Exception('"new_password" is not defined');
+	}
+
+	require_once("../helpers.php");
+	$localpart = stripLocalpart($input["auth"]["user"]);
+
+	if (empty($localpart)) {
+		throw new Exception ("localpart cannot be identified");
+	}
+
+	require_once("../database.php");
+	if ($mx_db->updatePassword(
+		$localpart,
+		$input["auth"]["password"],
+		$input["new_password"]
+	)) {
+		$response=[];
+	} else {
+		throw new Exception("invalid credentials or another error while updating");
+	}
+
+} catch (Exception $e) {
+	header("HTTP/1.0 500 Internal Error");
+	error_log("failed with error: " . $e->getMessage());
+	$response["error"] = $e->getMessage();
+}
+print (json_encode($response, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT) . "\n");
+?>
diff --git a/internal/login.php b/internal/login.php
index 9bd92e2..7aae7c9 100644
--- a/internal/login.php
+++ b/internal/login.php
@@ -4,9 +4,9 @@
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
  * You may obtain a copy of the License at
- * 
+ *
  * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
- * 
+ *
  * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
  * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
  * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
@@ -49,22 +49,15 @@ try {
 
     // prefer the localpart attribute of mxisd. But in case of matrix-synapse-rest-auth
     // we have to parse it on our own
-    if (empty($localpart) && !empty($mxid)) {
-        // A mxid would start with an @ so we start at the 2. position
-        $sepPos = strpos($mxid,':', 1);
-        if ($sepPos === false) {
-            // : not found. Assume mxid is localpart
-            // TODO: further checks
-            $localpart = $mxid;
-        } else {
-            $localpart = substr($mxid, 1, strpos($mxid,':') - 1 );
-        }
+    if (empty($localpart))
+	require_once("../helpers.php");
+	$localpart = stripLocalpart($input["auth"]["user"]);
     }
-    
+
     if (empty($localpart)) {
         throw new Exception ("localpart cannot be identified");
     }
-    
+
     $password = NULL;
     if (isset($input["user"]) && isset($input["user"]["password"])) {
         $password = $input["user"]["password"];
@@ -103,7 +96,7 @@ try {
             // we do not know how the data shall be transmitted so we do nothing with it
             $response["auth"]["success"] = false;
             break;
-    }    
+    }
 } catch (Exception $e) {
     error_log("Auth failed with error: " . $e->getMessage());
     $response["auth"]["error"] = $e->getMessage();