diff --git a/docs/docsite/rst/guide_azure.rst b/docs/docsite/rst/guide_azure.rst
index d5a6bc4350..265965261f 100644
--- a/docs/docsite/rst/guide_azure.rst
+++ b/docs/docsite/rst/guide_azure.rst
@@ -404,3 +404,15 @@ You can execute the playbook with something like:
 .. code-block:: bash
 
     $ ansible-playbook -i ./ansible/contrib/inventory/azure_rm.py test_azure_inventory.yml
+
+
+Disabling certificate validation on Azure endpoints
+...................................................
+
+When an HTTPS proxy is present, or when using Azure Stack, it may be necessary to disable certificate validation for
+Azure endpoints in the Azure modules. This is not a recommended security practice, but may be necessary when the system
+CA store cannot be altered to include the necessary CA certificate. Certificate validation can be controlled by setting
+the "cert_validation_mode" value in a credential profile, via the "AZURE_CERT_VALIDATION_MODE" environment variable, or
+by passing the "cert_validation_mode" argument to any Azure module. The default value is "validate"; setting the value
+to "ignore" will prevent all certificate validation. The module argument takes precedence over a credential profile value,
+which takes precedence over the environment value.
diff --git a/lib/ansible/module_utils/azure_rm_common.py b/lib/ansible/module_utils/azure_rm_common.py
index fb97da003d..2a256ba877 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/module_utils/azure_rm_common.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/module_utils/azure_rm_common.py
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ AZURE_COMMON_ARGS = dict(
     ad_user=dict(type='str', no_log=True),
     password=dict(type='str', no_log=True),
     cloud_environment=dict(type='str'),
+    cert_validation_mode=dict(type='str', choices=['validate', 'ignore'])
     # debug=dict(type='bool', default=False),
 )
 
@@ -57,6 +58,7 @@ AZURE_CREDENTIAL_ENV_MAPPING = dict(
     ad_user='AZURE_AD_USER',
     password='AZURE_PASSWORD',
     cloud_environment='AZURE_CLOUD_ENVIRONMENT',
+    cert_validation_mode='AZURE_CERT_VALIDATION_MODE',
 )
 
 AZURE_TAG_ARGS = dict(
@@ -255,6 +257,13 @@ class AzureRMModuleBase(object):
             self.fail("Failed to get credentials. Either pass as parameters, set environment variables, "
                       "or define a profile in ~/.azure/credentials or be logged using AzureCLI.")
 
+        # cert validation mode precedence: module-arg, credential profile, env, "validate"
+        self._cert_validation_mode = self.module.params['cert_validation_mode'] or self.credentials.get('cert_validation_mode') or \
+            os.environ.get('AZURE_CERT_VALIDATION_MODE') or 'validate'
+
+        if self._cert_validation_mode not in ['validate', 'ignore']:
+            self.fail('invalid cert_validation_mode: {0}'.format(self._cert_validation_mode))
+
         # if cloud_environment specified, look up/build Cloud object
         raw_cloud_env = self.credentials.get('cloud_environment')
         if not raw_cloud_env:
@@ -286,7 +295,8 @@ class AzureRMModuleBase(object):
             self.azure_credentials = ServicePrincipalCredentials(client_id=self.credentials['client_id'],
                                                                  secret=self.credentials['secret'],
                                                                  tenant=self.credentials['tenant'],
-                                                                 cloud_environment=self._cloud_environment)
+                                                                 cloud_environment=self._cloud_environment,
+                                                                 verify=self._cert_validation_mode == 'validate')
 
         elif self.credentials.get('ad_user') is not None and self.credentials.get('password') is not None:
             tenant = self.credentials.get('tenant')
@@ -296,7 +306,8 @@ class AzureRMModuleBase(object):
             self.azure_credentials = UserPassCredentials(self.credentials['ad_user'],
                                                          self.credentials['password'],
                                                          tenant=tenant,
-                                                         cloud_environment=self._cloud_environment)
+                                                         cloud_environment=self._cloud_environment,
+                                                         verify=self._cert_validation_mode == 'validate')
         else:
             self.fail("Failed to authenticate with provided credentials. Some attributes were missing. "
                       "Credentials must include client_id, secret and tenant or ad_user and password or "
@@ -718,6 +729,10 @@ class AzureRMModuleBase(object):
 
         return self.get_poller_result(poller)
 
+    @staticmethod
+    def _validation_ignore_callback(session, global_config, local_config, **kwargs):
+        session.verify = False
+
     def get_mgmt_svc_client(self, client_type, base_url=None, api_version=None):
         self.log('Getting management service client {0}'.format(client_type.__name__))
         self.check_client_version(client_type)
@@ -740,6 +755,9 @@ class AzureRMModuleBase(object):
         if VSCODEEXT_USER_AGENT_KEY in os.environ:
             client.config.add_user_agent(os.environ[VSCODEEXT_USER_AGENT_KEY])
 
+        if self._cert_validation_mode == 'ignore':
+            client.config.session_configuration_callback = self._validation_ignore_callback
+
         return client
 
     @property
diff --git a/lib/ansible/utils/module_docs_fragments/azure.py b/lib/ansible/utils/module_docs_fragments/azure.py
index dcf25bba31..eb2c1100bf 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/utils/module_docs_fragments/azure.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/utils/module_docs_fragments/azure.py
@@ -67,6 +67,15 @@ options:
               C(AzureUSGovernment)), or a metadata discovery endpoint URL (required for Azure Stack). Can also be set via credential file profile or
               the C(AZURE_CLOUD_ENVIRONMENT) environment variable.
         default: AzureCloud
+        version_added: 2.4
+    cert_validation_mode:
+        description:
+            - Controls the certificate validation behavior for Azure endpoints. By default, all modules will validate the server certificate, but
+              when an HTTPS proxy is in use, or against Azure Stack, it may be necessary to disable this behavior by passing C(ignore). Can also be
+              set via credential file profile or the C(AZURE_CERT_VALIDATION) environment variable.
+        choices: [validate, ignore]
+        default: null
+        version_added: 2.5
 requirements:
     - "python >= 2.7"
     - "azure >= 2.0.0"