Using HTTP Basic Auth to log in users

I want to log in Worpdress users using username and password provided by HTTP Basic Auth.

This is for example the default login method of the trac issue tracker ( https://trac.edgewall.org/ ).

I have searched plugins, these forums, and the web, but to my astonishement hardly anyone seems to have tried this.

There has been one attempt in 2007 https://bbpress.org/forums/topic/http_auth-pluginhow-to/ , bridging the HTTP Basic Auth data to the WordPress cookie. This is what I am looking for, but the code from then is not available anymore.

Is there any way logging in or setting a WordPress user using HTTP Basic Auth?