diff --git a/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py b/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py
index 63a20ea9b82..4a79b5424a9 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py
@@ -2695,7 +2695,7 @@ class AnsibleModule(object):
 
     def run_command(self, args, check_rc=False, close_fds=True, executable=None, data=None, binary_data=False, path_prefix=None, cwd=None,
                     use_unsafe_shell=False, prompt_regex=None, environ_update=None, umask=None, encoding='utf-8', errors='surrogate_or_strict',
-                    expand_user_and_vars=True):
+                    expand_user_and_vars=True, pass_fds=None, before_communicate_callback=None):
         '''
         Execute a command, returns rc, stdout, and stderr.
 
@@ -2738,6 +2738,13 @@ class AnsibleModule(object):
             are expanded before running the command. When ``True`` a string such as
             ``$SHELL`` will be expanded regardless of escaping. When ``False`` and
             ``use_unsafe_shell=False`` no path or variable expansion will be done.
+        :kw pass_fds: When running on python3 this argument
+            dictates which file descriptors should be passed
+            to an underlying ``Popen`` constructor.
+        :kw before_communicate_callback: This function will be called
+            after ``Popen`` object will be created
+            but before communicating to the process.
+            (``Popen`` object will be passed to callback as a first argument)
         :returns: A 3-tuple of return code (integer), stdout (native string),
             and stderr (native string).  On python2, stdout and stderr are both
             byte strings.  On python3, stdout and stderr are text strings converted
@@ -2839,6 +2846,8 @@ class AnsibleModule(object):
             stderr=subprocess.PIPE,
             preexec_fn=self._restore_signal_handlers,
         )
+        if PY3 and pass_fds:
+            kwargs["pass_fds"] = pass_fds
 
         # store the pwd
         prev_dir = os.getcwd()
@@ -2861,6 +2870,8 @@ class AnsibleModule(object):
             if self._debug:
                 self.log('Executing: ' + self._clean_args(args))
             cmd = subprocess.Popen(args, **kwargs)
+            if before_communicate_callback:
+                before_communicate_callback(cmd)
 
             # the communication logic here is essentially taken from that
             # of the _communicate() function in ssh.py
diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/files/synchronize.py b/lib/ansible/modules/files/synchronize.py
index 198d515d670..49adc4d0b35 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/files/synchronize.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/files/synchronize.py
@@ -319,8 +319,9 @@ EXAMPLES = '''
 
 
 import os
+import errno
 
-from ansible.module_utils.basic import AnsibleModule
+from ansible.module_utils.basic import AnsibleModule, to_bytes
 from ansible.module_utils.six.moves import shlex_quote
 
 
@@ -365,6 +366,7 @@ def main():
             private_key=dict(type='path'),
             rsync_path=dict(type='str'),
             _local_rsync_path=dict(type='path', default='rsync'),
+            _local_rsync_password=dict(default=None, no_log=True),
             _substitute_controller=dict(type='bool', default=False),
             archive=dict(type='bool', default=True),
             checksum=dict(type='bool', default=False),
@@ -404,6 +406,7 @@ def main():
     private_key = module.params['private_key']
     rsync_path = module.params['rsync_path']
     rsync = module.params.get('_local_rsync_path', 'rsync')
+    rsync_password = module.params.get('_local_rsync_password')
     rsync_timeout = module.params.get('rsync_timeout', 'rsync_timeout')
     archive = module.params['archive']
     checksum = module.params['checksum']
@@ -428,6 +431,16 @@ def main():
         rsync = module.get_bin_path(rsync, required=True)
 
     cmd = [rsync, '--delay-updates', '-F']
+    _sshpass_pipe = None
+    if rsync_password:
+        try:
+            module.run_command(["sshpass"])
+        except OSError:
+            module.fail_json(
+                msg="to use rsync connection with passwords, you must install the sshpass program"
+            )
+        _sshpass_pipe = os.pipe()
+        cmd = ['sshpass', '-d' + _sshpass_pipe[0]] + cmd
     if compress:
         cmd.append('--compress')
     if rsync_timeout:
@@ -534,7 +547,24 @@ def main():
     cmd.append(source)
     cmd.append(dest)
     cmdstr = ' '.join(cmd)
-    (rc, out, err) = module.run_command(cmd)
+
+    # If we are using password authentication, write the password into the pipe
+    if rsync_password:
+        def _write_password_to_pipe(proc):
+            os.close(_sshpass_pipe[0])
+            try:
+                os.write(_sshpass_pipe[1], to_bytes(rsync_password) + b'\n')
+            except OSError as exc:
+                # Ignore broken pipe errors if the sshpass process has exited.
+                if exc.errno != errno.EPIPE or proc.poll() is None:
+                    raise
+        (rc, out, err) = module.run_command(
+            cmd, pass_fds=_sshpass_pipe,
+            before_communicate_callback=_write_password_to_pipe
+        )
+    else:
+        (rc, out, err) = module.run_command(cmd)
+
     if rc:
         return module.fail_json(msg=err, rc=rc, cmd=cmdstr)
 
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/action/synchronize.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/action/synchronize.py
index 009a611f246..59d9376712c 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/action/synchronize.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/action/synchronize.py
@@ -205,6 +205,7 @@ class ActionModule(ActionBase):
 
         # Parameter name needed by the ansible module
         _tmp_args['_local_rsync_path'] = task_vars.get('ansible_rsync_path') or 'rsync'
+        _tmp_args['_local_rsync_password'] = task_vars.get('ansible_ssh_pass') or task_vars.get('ansible_password')
 
         # rsync thinks that one end of the connection is localhost and the
         # other is the host we're running the task for  (Note: We use