diff --git a/src/providers/ogr/qgsogrfeatureiterator.cpp b/src/providers/ogr/qgsogrfeatureiterator.cpp
index 3bedbeadd50..32622c4cae3 100644
--- a/src/providers/ogr/qgsogrfeatureiterator.cpp
+++ b/src/providers/ogr/qgsogrfeatureiterator.cpp
@@ -422,7 +422,7 @@ bool QgsOgrFeatureIterator::readFeature( gdal::ogr_feature_unique_ptr fet, QgsFe
 
 
 QgsOgrFeatureSource::QgsOgrFeatureSource( const QgsOgrProvider *p )
-  : mDataSource( QgsOgrProviderUtils::expandAuthConfig( p->dataSourceUri() ) )
+  : mDataSource( p->dataSourceUri( true ) )
   , mLayerName( p->layerName() )
   , mLayerIndex( p->layerIndex() )
   , mSubsetString( p->mSubsetString )
diff --git a/src/providers/ogr/qgsogrprovider.cpp b/src/providers/ogr/qgsogrprovider.cpp
index 3fe2fe7c8b9..4ddeb74fe5c 100644
--- a/src/providers/ogr/qgsogrprovider.cpp
+++ b/src/providers/ogr/qgsogrprovider.cpp
@@ -457,21 +457,33 @@ QgsOgrProvider::QgsOgrProvider( QString const &uri )
 
   setNativeTypes( nativeTypes );
 
-  QgsOgrConnPool::instance()->ref( QgsOgrProviderUtils::connectionPoolId( dataSourceUri() ) );
+  QgsOgrConnPool::instance()->ref( QgsOgrProviderUtils::connectionPoolId( dataSourceUri( true ) ) );
 }
 
 QgsOgrProvider::~QgsOgrProvider()
 {
-  QgsOgrConnPool::instance()->unref( QgsOgrProviderUtils::connectionPoolId( dataSourceUri() ) );
+  QgsOgrConnPool::instance()->unref( QgsOgrProviderUtils::connectionPoolId( dataSourceUri( true ) ) );
   // We must also make sure to flush unusef cached connections so that
   // the file can be removed (#15137)
-  QgsOgrConnPool::instance()->invalidateConnections( QgsOgrProviderUtils::connectionPoolId( dataSourceUri() ) );
+  QgsOgrConnPool::instance()->invalidateConnections( QgsOgrProviderUtils::connectionPoolId( dataSourceUri( true ) ) );
 
   // Do that as last step for final cleanup that might be prevented by
   // still opened datasets.
   close();
 }
 
+QString QgsOgrProvider::dataSourceUri( bool expandAuthConfig ) const
+{
+  if ( expandAuthConfig && QgsDataProvider::dataSourceUri( ).contains( QLatin1String( "authcfg" ) ) )
+  {
+    return QgsOgrProviderUtils::expandAuthConfig( QgsDataProvider::dataSourceUri( ) );
+  }
+  else
+  {
+    return QgsDataProvider::dataSourceUri( );
+  }
+}
+
 QgsAbstractFeatureSource *QgsOgrProvider::featureSource() const
 {
   return new QgsOgrFeatureSource( this );
@@ -537,9 +549,9 @@ bool QgsOgrProvider::setSubsetString( const QString &theSQL, bool updateFeatureC
 
   if ( uri != dataSourceUri() )
   {
-    QgsOgrConnPool::instance()->unref( QgsOgrProviderUtils::connectionPoolId( dataSourceUri() ) );
+    QgsOgrConnPool::instance()->unref( QgsOgrProviderUtils::connectionPoolId( dataSourceUri( true ) ) );
     setDataSourceUri( uri );
-    QgsOgrConnPool::instance()->ref( QgsOgrProviderUtils::connectionPoolId( dataSourceUri() ) );
+    QgsOgrConnPool::instance()->ref( QgsOgrProviderUtils::connectionPoolId( dataSourceUri( true ) ) );
   }
 
   mOgrLayer->ResetReading();
@@ -889,7 +901,7 @@ OGRwkbGeometryType QgsOgrProvider::getOgrGeomType( OGRLayerH ogrLayer )
 
 void QgsOgrProvider::loadFields()
 {
-  QgsOgrConnPool::instance()->invalidateConnections( QgsOgrProviderUtils::connectionPoolId( dataSourceUri() ) );
+  QgsOgrConnPool::instance()->invalidateConnections( QgsOgrProviderUtils::connectionPoolId( dataSourceUri( true ) ) );
   //the attribute fields need to be read again when the encoding changes
   mAttributeFields.clear();
   mDefaultValues.clear();
@@ -1458,7 +1470,7 @@ bool QgsOgrProvider::addAttributes( const QList<QgsField> &attributes )
   {
     // adding attributes in mapinfo requires to be able to delete the .dat file
     // so drop any cached connections.
-    QgsOgrConnPool::instance()->invalidateConnections( QgsOgrProviderUtils::connectionPoolId( dataSourceUri() ) );
+    QgsOgrConnPool::instance()->invalidateConnections( QgsOgrProviderUtils::connectionPoolId( dataSourceUri( true ) ) );
   }
 
   bool returnvalue = true;
@@ -1792,7 +1804,7 @@ bool QgsOgrProvider::changeAttributeValues( const QgsChangedAttributesMap &attr_
   {
     pushError( tr( "OGR error syncing to disk: %1" ).arg( CPLGetLastErrorMsg() ) );
   }
-  QgsOgrConnPool::instance()->invalidateConnections( QgsOgrProviderUtils::connectionPoolId( dataSourceUri() ) );
+  QgsOgrConnPool::instance()->invalidateConnections( QgsOgrProviderUtils::connectionPoolId( dataSourceUri( true ) ) );
   return true;
 }
 
@@ -1868,7 +1880,7 @@ bool QgsOgrProvider::changeGeometryValues( const QgsGeometryMap &geometry_map )
     commitTransaction();
   }
 
-  QgsOgrConnPool::instance()->invalidateConnections( QgsOgrProviderUtils::connectionPoolId( dataSourceUri() ) );
+  QgsOgrConnPool::instance()->invalidateConnections( QgsOgrProviderUtils::connectionPoolId( dataSourceUri( true ) ) );
   return syncToDisc();
 }
 
@@ -3261,7 +3273,7 @@ QByteArray QgsOgrProvider::quotedIdentifier( const QByteArray &field ) const
 
 void QgsOgrProvider::forceReload()
 {
-  QgsOgrConnPool::instance()->invalidateConnections( QgsOgrProviderUtils::connectionPoolId( dataSourceUri() ) );
+  QgsOgrConnPool::instance()->invalidateConnections( QgsOgrProviderUtils::connectionPoolId( dataSourceUri( true ) ) );
 }
 
 QString QgsOgrProviderUtils::connectionPoolId( const QString &dataSourceURI )
@@ -3539,7 +3551,7 @@ QString QgsOgrProviderUtils::quotedValue( const QVariant &value )
 bool QgsOgrProvider::syncToDisc()
 {
   //for shapefiles, remove spatial index files and create a new index
-  QgsOgrConnPool::instance()->unref( QgsOgrProviderUtils::connectionPoolId( dataSourceUri() ) );
+  QgsOgrConnPool::instance()->unref( QgsOgrProviderUtils::connectionPoolId( dataSourceUri( true ) ) );
   bool shapeIndex = false;
   if ( mGDALDriverName == QLatin1String( "ESRI Shapefile" ) )
   {
@@ -3554,7 +3566,7 @@ bool QgsOgrProvider::syncToDisc()
     {
       shapeIndex = true;
       close();
-      QgsOgrConnPool::instance()->invalidateConnections( QgsOgrProviderUtils::connectionPoolId( dataSourceUri() ) );
+      QgsOgrConnPool::instance()->invalidateConnections( QgsOgrProviderUtils::connectionPoolId( dataSourceUri( true ) ) );
       QFile::remove( sbnIndexFile );
       open( OpenModeSameAsCurrent );
       if ( !mValid )
@@ -3578,7 +3590,7 @@ bool QgsOgrProvider::syncToDisc()
   }
 #endif
 
-  QgsOgrConnPool::instance()->ref( QgsOgrProviderUtils::connectionPoolId( dataSourceUri() ) );
+  QgsOgrConnPool::instance()->ref( QgsOgrProviderUtils::connectionPoolId( dataSourceUri( true ) ) );
   if ( shapeIndex )
   {
     return createSpatialIndex();
@@ -3640,7 +3652,7 @@ void QgsOgrProvider::recalculateFeatureCount()
     mOgrLayer->SetSpatialFilter( filter );
   }
 
-  QgsOgrConnPool::instance()->invalidateConnections( QgsOgrProviderUtils::connectionPoolId( dataSourceUri() ) );
+  QgsOgrConnPool::instance()->invalidateConnections( QgsOgrProviderUtils::connectionPoolId( dataSourceUri( true ) ) );
 }
 
 bool QgsOgrProvider::doesStrictFeatureTypeCheck() const
@@ -3753,9 +3765,6 @@ void QgsOgrProvider::open( OpenMode mode )
   Q_ASSERT( !mOgrLayer );
   Q_ASSERT( !mOgrOrigLayer );
 
-  // Expand authentication
-  setDataSourceUri( QgsOgrProviderUtils::expandAuthConfig( mFilePath ) );
-
   // Try to open using VSIFileHandler
   //   see http://trac.osgeo.org/gdal/wiki/UserDocs/ReadInZip
   QString vsiPrefix = QgsZipItem::vsiPrefix( dataSourceUri() );
diff --git a/src/providers/ogr/qgsogrprovider.h b/src/providers/ogr/qgsogrprovider.h
index 76bc2edf2bf..cf9fbd7aa2d 100644
--- a/src/providers/ogr/qgsogrprovider.h
+++ b/src/providers/ogr/qgsogrprovider.h
@@ -64,6 +64,18 @@ class QgsOgrProvider : public QgsVectorDataProvider
 
     virtual ~QgsOgrProvider();
 
+    /**
+     * Get the data source specification. This may be a path or database
+     * connection string
+     * \param expandAuthConfig Whether to expand any assigned authentication configuration
+     * \returns data source specification
+     * \note The default authentication configuration expansion is FALSE. This keeps credentials
+     * out of layer data source URIs and project files. Expansion should be specifically done
+     * only when needed within a provider
+     */
+    QString dataSourceUri( bool expandAuthConfig = false ) const override;
+
+
     virtual QgsAbstractFeatureSource *featureSource() const override;
 
     virtual QgsCoordinateReferenceSystem crs() const override;