diff --git a/src/wp-includes/pluggable.php b/src/wp-includes/pluggable.php
index 0de6b0cc78..61b809c542 100644
--- a/src/wp-includes/pluggable.php
+++ b/src/wp-includes/pluggable.php
@@ -900,6 +900,17 @@ function wp_set_auth_cookie( $user_id, $remember = false, $secure = '', $token =
 	 */
 	do_action( 'set_logged_in_cookie', $logged_in_cookie, $expire, $expiration, $user_id, 'logged_in' );
 
+	/**
+	 * Allows preventing auth cookies from actually being sent to the client.
+	 *
+	 * @since 4.7.4
+	 *
+	 * @param bool $send Whether to send auth cookies to the client.
+	 */
+	if ( ! apply_filters( 'send_auth_cookies', true ) ) {
+		return;
+	}
+
 	setcookie($auth_cookie_name, $auth_cookie, $expire, PLUGINS_COOKIE_PATH, COOKIE_DOMAIN, $secure, true);
 	setcookie($auth_cookie_name, $auth_cookie, $expire, ADMIN_COOKIE_PATH, COOKIE_DOMAIN, $secure, true);
 	setcookie(LOGGED_IN_COOKIE, $logged_in_cookie, $expire, COOKIEPATH, COOKIE_DOMAIN, $secure_logged_in_cookie, true);
@@ -922,6 +933,17 @@ function wp_clear_auth_cookie() {
 	 */
 	do_action( 'clear_auth_cookie' );
 
+	/**
+	 * Allows preventing auth cookies from actually being sent to the client.
+	 *
+	 * @since 4.7.4
+	 *
+	 * @param bool $send Whether to send auth cookies to the client.
+	 */
+	if ( ! apply_filters( 'send_auth_cookies', true ) ) {
+		return;
+	}
+
 	setcookie( AUTH_COOKIE,        ' ', time() - YEAR_IN_SECONDS, ADMIN_COOKIE_PATH,   COOKIE_DOMAIN );
 	setcookie( SECURE_AUTH_COOKIE, ' ', time() - YEAR_IN_SECONDS, ADMIN_COOKIE_PATH,   COOKIE_DOMAIN );
 	setcookie( AUTH_COOKIE,        ' ', time() - YEAR_IN_SECONDS, PLUGINS_COOKIE_PATH, COOKIE_DOMAIN );
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/includes/functions.php b/tests/phpunit/includes/functions.php
index 3a7c9bd98e..d9872fb541 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/includes/functions.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/includes/functions.php
@@ -164,21 +164,4 @@ function _upload_dir_https( $uploads ) {
 
 // Skip `setcookie` calls in auth_cookie functions due to warning:
 // Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by ...
-
-function wp_set_auth_cookie( $user_id, $remember = false, $secure = '', $token = '' ) {
-	$auth_cookie = null;
-	$expire = null;
-	$expiration = null;
-	$user_id = null;
-	$scheme = null;
-	/** This action is documented in wp-inclues/pluggable.php */
-	do_action( 'set_auth_cookie', $auth_cookie, $expire, $expiration, $user_id, $scheme );
-	$logged_in_cookie = null;
-	/** This action is documented in wp-inclues/pluggable.php */
-	do_action( 'set_logged_in_cookie', $logged_in_cookie, $expire, $expiration, $user_id, 'logged_in' );
-}
-
-function wp_clear_auth_cookie() {
-	/** This action is documented in wp-inclues/pluggable.php */
-	do_action( 'clear_auth_cookie' );
-}
+tests_add_filter( 'send_auth_cookies', '__return_false' );
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/includes/testcase.php b/tests/phpunit/includes/testcase.php
index 66dc212530..e5bbdaedbb 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/includes/testcase.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/includes/testcase.php
@@ -176,6 +176,27 @@ class WP_UnitTestCase extends PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase {
 		self::flush_cache();
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Allow tests to be skipped on some automated runs
+	 *
+	 * For test runs on Travis for something other than trunk/master 
+	 * we want to skip tests that only need to run for master.
+	 */
+	public function skipOnAutomatedBranches() {
+		// gentenv can be disabled
+		if ( ! function_exists( 'getenv' ) ) {
+			return false;
+		}
+
+		// https://docs.travis-ci.com/user/environment-variables/#Default-Environment-Variables
+		$travis_branch       = getenv( 'TRAVIS_BRANCH' );
+		$travis_pull_request = getenv( 'TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST' );
+
+		if ( false !== $travis_pull_request && 'master' !== $travis_branch ) {
+			$this->markTestSkipped( 'For automated test runs, this test is only run on trunk/master' );
+		}
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Unregister existing post types and register defaults.
 	 *
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/tests/basic.php b/tests/phpunit/tests/basic.php
index 2795824361..0d145f638d 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/tests/basic.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/tests/basic.php
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@
 class Tests_Basic extends WP_UnitTestCase {
 
 	function test_license() {
+		// This test is designed to only run on trunk/master
+		$this->skipOnAutomatedBranches();
+
 		$license = file_get_contents( ABSPATH . 'license.txt' );
 		preg_match( '#Copyright 2011-(\d+) by the contributors#', $license, $matches );
 		$this_year = date( 'Y' );
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/tests/external-http/basic.php b/tests/phpunit/tests/external-http/basic.php
index 5b234a6579..e84ab6a454 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/tests/external-http/basic.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/tests/external-http/basic.php
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@
 class Tests_External_HTTP_Basic extends WP_UnitTestCase {
 
 	function test_readme() {
+		// This test is designed to only run on trunk/master
+		$this->skipOnAutomatedBranches();
+
 		$readme = file_get_contents( ABSPATH . 'readme.html' );
 
 		preg_match( '#Recommendations.*PHP</a> version <strong>([0-9.]*)#s', $readme, $matches );