diff --git a/documentation/ref-manual/variables.rst b/documentation/ref-manual/variables.rst
index e63a749950..7f0d09903b 100644
--- a/documentation/ref-manual/variables.rst
+++ b/documentation/ref-manual/variables.rst
@@ -7527,6 +7527,31 @@ system and gives an overview of their function and contents.
 
          You can specify only a single URL in :term:`SOURCE_MIRROR_URL`.
 
+      .. note::
+
+         If the mirror is protected behind a username and password, the
+         :term:`build host` needs to be configured so the :term:`build system
+         <OpenEmbedded Build System>` is able to fetch from the mirror.
+
+         The recommended way to do that is by setting the following parameters
+         in ``$HOME/.netrc`` (``$HOME`` being the :term:`build host` home
+         directory)::
+
+            machine example.com
+            login <user>
+            password <password>
+
+         This file requires permissions set to ``400`` or ``600`` to prevent
+         other users from reading the file::
+
+            chmod 600 "$HOME/.netrc"
+
+         Another method to configure the username and password is from the URL
+         in :term:`SOURCE_MIRROR_URL` directly, with the ``user`` and ``pswd``
+         parameters::
+
+            SOURCE_MIRROR_URL = "http://example.com/my_source_mirror;user=<user>;pswd=<password>"
+
    :term:`SPDX_ARCHIVE_PACKAGED`
       This option allows to add to :term:`SPDX` output compressed archives
       of the files in the generated target packages.
@@ -7905,6 +7930,34 @@ system and gives an overview of their function and contents.
              file://.* https://someserver.tld/share/sstate/PATH;downloadfilename=PATH \
              file://.* file:///some-local-dir/sstate/PATH"
 
+      .. note::
+
+         If the mirror is protected behind a username and password, the
+         :term:`build host` needs to be configured so the :term:`build system
+         <OpenEmbedded Build System>` is able to download the sstate cache using
+         authentication.
+
+         The recommended way to do that is by setting the following parameters
+         in ``$HOME/.netrc`` (``$HOME`` being the :term:`build host` home
+         directory)::
+
+            machine someserver.tld
+            login <user>
+            password <password>
+
+         This file requires permissions set to ``400`` or ``600`` to prevent
+         other users from reading the file::
+
+            chmod 600 "$HOME/.netrc"
+
+         Another method to configure the username and password is from the
+         URL in :term:`SSTATE_MIRRORS` directly, with the ``user`` and ``pswd``
+         parameters::
+
+            SSTATE_MIRRORS ?= "\
+                file://.* https://someserver.tld/share/sstate/PATH;user=<user>;pswd=<password>;downloadfilename=PATH \
+            "
+
       The Yocto Project actually shares the cache data objects built by its
       autobuilder::