diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index 82d1cde4e..4fa1383e7 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -78,6 +78,8 @@ Fixed bugs:
 Other changes:
 --------------
 
+ * <sshexec> can optionally pass System.in to the remote process
+   Bugzilla Report 55393
 
 Changes from Ant 1.9.2 TO Ant 1.9.3
 ===================================
diff --git a/manual/Tasks/sshexec.html b/manual/Tasks/sshexec.html
index 0c130e812..75f0faf19 100644
--- a/manual/Tasks/sshexec.html
+++ b/manual/Tasks/sshexec.html
@@ -191,6 +191,13 @@ and won't work with versions of jsch earlier than
       <em>since Ant 1.8.3</em></td>
     <td align="center" valign="top">No, defaults to false</td>
   </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">useSystemIn</td>
+    <td valign="top">Whether to pass the current standard input to the
+      remote process.
+      <em>since Ant 1.9.4</em></td>
+    <td align="center" valign="top">No, defaults to false</td>
+  </tr>
 </table>
 
 <h3>Examples</h3>
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/ssh/SSHExec.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/ssh/SSHExec.java
index 113565101..d7f92a382 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/ssh/SSHExec.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/ssh/SSHExec.java
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ import org.apache.tools.ant.types.Resource;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.types.resources.FileResource;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.util.FileUtils;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.util.KeepAliveOutputStream;
+import org.apache.tools.ant.util.KeepAliveInputStream;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.util.TeeOutputStream;
 
 import com.jcraft.jsch.ChannelExec;
@@ -67,6 +68,7 @@ public class SSHExec extends SSHBase {
     private File inputFile = null;   // like <exec>
     private boolean append = false;   // like <exec>
     private boolean usePty = false;
+    private boolean useSystemIn = false;
 
     private Resource commandResource = null;
 
@@ -186,6 +188,16 @@ public class SSHExec extends SSHBase {
         usePty = b;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * If set, input will be taken from System.in
+     * 
+     * @param useSystemIn True to use System.in as InputStream, false otherwise
+     * @since Apache Ant 1.9.4
+     */
+    public void setUseSystemIn(boolean useSystemIn) {
+        this.useSystemIn = useSystemIn;
+    }        
+
     /**
      * If suppressSystemOut is <code>true</code>, output will not be sent to System.out<br/>
      * If suppressSystemOut is <code>false</code>, normal behavior
@@ -302,6 +314,10 @@ public class SSHExec extends SSHBase {
             istream = new ByteArrayInputStream(inputString.getBytes());
         }
 
+        if (useSystemIn) {
+            istream = KeepAliveInputStream.wrapSystemIn();
+        }
+
         try {
             final ChannelExec channel;
             session.setTimeout((int) maxwait);