Index: client/src/main/java/org/apache/karaf/client/Main.java
===================================================================
--- client/src/main/java/org/apache/karaf/client/Main.java	(revision 1412516)
+++ client/src/main/java/org/apache/karaf/client/Main.java	(working copy)
@@ -79,7 +79,16 @@
             client.start();
             ClientSession session = connectWithRetries(client, config);
             if (!session.authAgent(config.getUser()).await().isSuccess()) {
-                String password = readLine("Password: ");
+                String password = null;
+                Console console = System.console();
+                if (console != null) {
+                    char[] readPassword = console.readPassword("Password: ");
+                    if (readPassword != null) {
+                        password = new String(readPassword);
+                    } 
+                } else {
+                    throw new Exception("Could not get system console");
+                }
                 if (!session.authPassword(config.getUser(), password).await().isSuccess()) {
                     throw new Exception("Authentication failure");
                 }