diff --git a/UPDATING.md b/UPDATING.md
index 88dc78c810d2d..814e2e107dc0c 100644
--- a/UPDATING.md
+++ b/UPDATING.md
@@ -76,6 +76,24 @@ To delete a user:
 airflow users --delete --username jondoe
 ```
 
+### User model changes
+This patch changes the `User.superuser` field from a hardcoded boolean to a `Boolean()` database column. `User.superuser` will default to `False`, which means that this privilege will have to be granted manually to any users that may require it.
+
+For example, open a Python shell and
+```python
+from airflow import models, settings
+
+session = settings.Session()
+users = session.query(models.User).all()  # [admin, regular_user]
+
+users[1].superuser  # False
+
+admin = users[0]
+admin.superuser = True
+session.add(admin)
+session.commit()
+```
+
 ## Airflow 1.10.1
 
 ### StatsD Metrics
diff --git a/airflow/contrib/auth/backends/password_auth.py b/airflow/contrib/auth/backends/password_auth.py
index 55f5daf8fdf76..dcdb1d1225d42 100644
--- a/airflow/contrib/auth/backends/password_auth.py
+++ b/airflow/contrib/auth/backends/password_auth.py
@@ -95,8 +95,7 @@ def data_profiling(self):
         return True
 
     def is_superuser(self):
-        """Access all the things"""
-        return True
+        return hasattr(self, 'user') and self.user.is_superuser()
 
 
 @login_manager.user_loader
diff --git a/airflow/migrations/versions/41f5f12752f8_add_superuser_field.py b/airflow/migrations/versions/41f5f12752f8_add_superuser_field.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..6e02582b7e840
--- /dev/null
+++ b/airflow/migrations/versions/41f5f12752f8_add_superuser_field.py
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+# Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+# or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+# distributed with this work for additional information
+# regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+# to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+# "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+# with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+# software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+# "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+# KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+# specific language governing permissions and limitations
+# under the License.
+
+"""add superuser field
+
+Revision ID: 41f5f12752f8
+Revises: 03bc53e68815
+Create Date: 2018-12-04 15:50:04.456875
+
+"""
+
+from alembic import op
+import sqlalchemy as sa
+
+
+# revision identifiers, used by Alembic.
+revision = '41f5f12752f8'
+down_revision = '03bc53e68815'
+branch_labels = None
+depends_on = None
+
+
+def upgrade():
+    op.add_column('users', sa.Column('superuser', sa.Boolean(), default=False))
+
+
+def downgrade():
+    op.drop_column('users', 'superuser')
diff --git a/airflow/models.py b/airflow/models.py
index 1bca27cbc8192..a6d0ebbd73e28 100755
--- a/airflow/models.py
+++ b/airflow/models.py
@@ -601,7 +601,7 @@ class User(Base):
     id = Column(Integer, primary_key=True)
     username = Column(String(ID_LEN), unique=True)
     email = Column(String(500))
-    superuser = False
+    superuser = Column(Boolean(), default=False)
 
     def __repr__(self):
         return self.username