diff --git a/docs/topics/auth/default.txt b/docs/topics/auth/default.txt
index 247f5a38f1..bfac4c922e 100644
--- a/docs/topics/auth/default.txt
+++ b/docs/topics/auth/default.txt
@@ -249,6 +249,39 @@ The permission can then be assigned to a
 attribute or to a :class:`~django.contrib.auth.models.Group` via its
 ``permissions`` attribute.
 
+Permission caching
+------------------
+
+The :class:`~django.contrib.auth.backends.ModelBackend` caches permissions on
+the ``User`` object after the first time they need to be fetched for a
+permissions check. This is typically fine for the request-response cycle since
+permissions are not typically checked immediately after they are added (in the
+admin, for example). If you are adding permissions and checking them immediately
+afterward, in a test or view for example, the easiest solution is to re-fetch
+the ``User`` from the database. For example::
+
+    from django.contrib.auth.models import Permission, User
+    from django.shortcuts import get_object_or_404
+
+    def user_gains_perms(request, user_id):
+        user = get_object_or_404(User, pk=user_id)
+        # any permission check will cache the current set of permissions
+        user.has_perm('myapp.change_bar')
+
+        permission = Permission.objects.get(codename='change_bar')
+        user.user_permissions.add(permission)
+
+        # Checking the cached permission set
+        user.has_perm('myapp.change_bar')  # False
+
+        # Request new instance of User
+        user = get_object_or_404(User, pk=user_id)
+
+        # Permission cache is repopulated from the database
+        user.has_perm('myapp.change_bar')  # True
+
+        ...
+
 .. _auth-web-requests:
 
 Authentication in Web requests