diff --git a/webservices/cron_status.php b/webservices/cron_status.php
index c83c4d406..e26a7701b 100644
--- a/webservices/cron_status.php
+++ b/webservices/cron_status.php
@@ -1,39 +1,82 @@
 <?php
 
 require_once(__DIR__.'/../approot.inc.php');
+require_once(APPROOT.'/application/application.inc.php');
+require_once(APPROOT.'/application/startup.inc.php');
 
+const ERROR_ALREADY_RUNNING = "error_already_running";
 const RUNNING = "running";
 const STOPPED = "stopped";
 const ERROR = "error";
 
-$sLogFilename = utils::ReadParam("cron_log_file", null, true, utils::ENUM_SANITIZATION_FILTER_RAW_DATA);
-if (is_null($sLogFilename)) {
-	$sLogFilename = utils::ReadPostedParam("cron_log_file", null, utils::ENUM_SANITIZATION_FILTER_RAW_DATA) ?? "cron.log";
-}
-$sLogFile = APPROOT . "log/$sLogFilename";
-if (is_file($sLogFile)){
-	$sContent = exec("tail -n 1 $sLogFile");
-	if (0 === strpos($sContent, 'Exiting: ')){
-		exec("tail -n 2 $sLogFile", $aContent);
-		//var_dump($aContent);
-		$sContent = implode("\n", $aContent);
-		if (false !== strpos($sContent, 'Already running')){
-			echo ERROR . " (already running)";
-			exit;
-		}
+$sAuthUser = ReadParam("auth_user");
+$sAuthPwd = ReadParam("auth_pwd");
 
-		if (preg_match('/ERROR: (.*)\\n/', $sContent, $aMatches)){
-			echo ERROR . " ($aMatches[1])";
-			exit;
-		}
+try {
+	$sAuthUser = ReadParam("auth_user");
+	$sAuthPwd = ReadParam("auth_pwd");
 
-		echo "$sContent\n";
-		echo STOPPED;
-		exit;
+	if (is_null($sAuthUser) || is_null($sAuthPwd)) {
+		throw new \Exception("Missing credentials");
 	}
 
-	echo RUNNING;
-	return;
+	if (UserRights::CheckCredentials($sAuthUser, $sAuthPwd)) {
+		UserRights::Login($sAuthUser); // Login & set the user's language
+	} else {
+		throw new \Exception("Invalid credentials");
+	}
+
+	$sLogFilename = ReadParam("cron_log_file", "cron.log");
+
+	$sStatus = STOPPED;
+	$sMsg = "";
+	$sLogFile = APPROOT."log/$sLogFilename";
+	if (is_file($sLogFile)) {
+		$sContent = exec("tail -n 1 $sLogFile");
+		if (0 === strpos($sContent, 'Exiting: ')) {
+			exec("tail -n 2 $sLogFile", $aContent);
+			//var_dump($aContent);
+			$sContent = implode("\n", $aContent);
+			if (false !== strpos($sContent, 'Already running')) {
+				$sStatus = ERROR_ALREADY_RUNNING;
+			} else if (preg_match('/ERROR: (.*)\\n/', $sContent, $aMatches)) {
+				$sMsg = "$aMatches[1]";
+				$sStatus = ERROR;
+			} else {
+				$sMsg = "$sContent";
+				$sStatus = STOPPED;
+			}
+		} else {
+			$sStatus = RUNNING;
+		}
+	} else {
+		$sMsg = "missing $sLogFile";
+		$sStatus = ERROR;
+	}
+
+	http_response_code(200);
+	$oP = new JsonPage();
+	$oP->add_header('Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *');
+	$oP->SetData(["status" => $sStatus, 'message' => $sMsg]);
+	$oP->SetOutputDataOnly(true);
+	$oP->Output();
+}
+catch (Exception $e) {
+	\IssueLog::Error("Cannot cron status", null, ['msg' => $e->getMessage(), 'stack' => $e->getTraceAsString()]);
+	http_response_code(500);
+	$oP = new JsonPage();
+	$oP->add_header('Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *');
+	$oP->SetData(["message" => $e->getMessage()]);
+	$oP->SetOutputDataOnly(true);
+	$oP->Output();
 }
 
-echo ERROR . "(missing $sLogFile)";
+function ReadParam($sParam, $sDefaultValue = null, $sSanitizationFilter = utils::ENUM_SANITIZATION_FILTER_RAW_DATA)
+{
+	$sValue = utils::ReadParam($sParam, null, true, $sSanitizationFilter);
+	if (is_null($sValue)) {
+		$sValue = utils::ReadPostedParam($sParam, $sDefaultValue, $sSanitizationFilter);
+	}
+
+	return trim($sValue);
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/webservices/launch_cron_asynchronously.php b/webservices/launch_cron_asynchronously.php
index 22020dea9..728ae1d0d 100644
--- a/webservices/launch_cron_asynchronously.php
+++ b/webservices/launch_cron_asynchronously.php
@@ -1,24 +1,100 @@
 <?php
 
 require_once(__DIR__.'/../approot.inc.php');
+require_once(APPROOT.'/application/application.inc.php');
+require_once(APPROOT.'/application/startup.inc.php');
 
-$sLogFilename = utils::ReadParam("cron_log_file", null, true, utils::ENUM_SANITIZATION_FILTER_RAW_DATA);
-if (is_null($sLogFilename)) {
-	$sLogFilename = utils::ReadPostedParam("cron_log_file", null, utils::ENUM_SANITIZATION_FILTER_RAW_DATA) ?? "cron.log";
+try {
+	$sAuthUser = ReadParam("auth_user");
+	$sAuthPwd = ReadParam("auth_pwd");
+
+	if (is_null($sAuthUser) || is_null($sAuthPwd)) {
+		throw new \Exception("Missing credentials");
+	}
+
+	if (UserRights::CheckCredentials($sAuthUser, $sAuthPwd)) {
+		UserRights::Login($sAuthUser); // Login & set the user's language
+	} else {
+		throw new \Exception("Invalid credentials");
+	}
+
+	$sLogFilename = ReadParam("cron_log_file", "cron.log");
+	$sLogFile = APPROOT."log/$sLogFilename";
+
+	$sCliParams = ReadParam("cron_cli_parameters");
+
+	$bAsynchronous = true;
+	if (is_null($sCliParams)) {
+		$sCliParams = "--help";
+		$bAsynchronous = false;
+	} else {
+		$sCliParams = trim(base64_decode($sCliParams, true));
+
+		if (false === strpos($sCliParams, '--auth_user=')) {
+			$sCliParams = "--auth_user=$sAuthUser ".$sCliParams;
+		}
+
+		if (false === strpos($sCliParams, '--auth_pwd=')) {
+			$sCliParams = "--auth_pwd=$sAuthPwd ".$sCliParams;
+		}
+
+		if (false !== strpos($sCliParams, '--status_only=1')) {
+			$bAsynchronous = false;
+		}
+	}
+
+	touch($sLogFile);
+	$sPHPExec = trim(\MetaModel::GetConfig()->Get('php_path'));
+
+	if ($bAsynchronous) {
+		$sCli = sprintf("$sPHPExec %s/cron.php $sCliParams 2>&1 >>$sLogFile &", __DIR__);
+		file_put_contents($sLogFile, $sCli);
+		$process = popen($sCli, 'r');
+	} else {
+
+
+		$sCli = sprintf("\n $sPHPExec %s/cron.php $sCliParams", __DIR__);
+		$fp = fopen($sLogFile, 'a+');
+		fwrite($fp, $sCli);
+
+		$aDescriptorSpec = [
+			0 => ["pipe", "r"],  // stdin
+			1 => ["pipe", "w"],  // stdout
+		];
+		$rProcess = proc_open($sCli, $aDescriptorSpec, $aPipes, __DIR__, null);
+
+		$sStdOut = stream_get_contents($aPipes[1]);
+		fclose($aPipes[1]);
+		$iCode = proc_close($rProcess);
+
+		fwrite($fp, $sStdOut);
+		fwrite($fp, "Exiting: ".time().' ('.date('Y-m-d H:i:s').')');
+		fclose($fp);
+	}
+
+	http_response_code(200);
+	$oP = new JsonPage();
+	$oP->add_header('Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *');
+	$oP->SetData(["message" => "OK"]);
+	$oP->SetOutputDataOnly(true);
+	$oP->Output();
 }
-$sLogFile = APPROOT . "log/$sLogFilename";
-
-$sCliParams = utils::ReadParam("cron_cli_parameters", null, true, utils::ENUM_SANITIZATION_FILTER_RAW_DATA);
-if (is_null($sCliParams)) {
-	$sCliParams = utils::ReadPostedParam("cron_cli_parameters", null, utils::ENUM_SANITIZATION_FILTER_RAW_DATA) ?? "--help";
+catch (Exception $e) {
+	\IssueLog::Error("Cannot run cron", null, ['msg' => $e->getMessage(), 'stack' => $e->getTraceAsString()]);
+	http_response_code(500);
+	$oP = new JsonPage();
+	$oP->add_header('Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *');
+	$oP->SetData(["message" => $e->getMessage()]);
+	$oP->SetOutputDataOnly(true);
+	$oP->Output();
 }
 
-if (is_null($sCliParams)){
-	$sCliParams = "--help";
-} else {
-	$sCliParams = base64_decode($sCliParams, true);
-}
+function ReadParam($sParam, $sDefaultValue = null, $sSanitizationFilter = utils::ENUM_SANITIZATION_FILTER_RAW_DATA)
+{
+	$sValue = utils::ReadParam($sParam, null, true, $sSanitizationFilter);
+	if (is_null($sValue)) {
+		$sValue = utils::ReadPostedParam($sParam, $sDefaultValue, $sSanitizationFilter);
+	}
 
-$sCli = sprintf("php %s/cron.php $sCliParams 2>&1 >>$sLogFile &", __DIR__);
-exec("echo $sCli>>$sLogFile");
-$process=popen($sCli, 'r');
+	return trim($sValue);
+}
\ No newline at end of file