[Dovecot] Dovecot 1.2.13 intermittent authentication failures

[C. Bensend]

Hey folks,

   I recently upgraded my mail server from an older OpenBSD -CURRENT
snapshot to the latest (Aug 1).  As part of this upgrade, I updated
all of my packages to their latest versions.

   Since this upgrade, dovecot has begun failing to authenticate
intermittently.  I use it primarily for web mail (Squirrelmail
1.4.20) and leave myself logged in during the day.  This problem
manifests itself by kicking me back to the "Username or password
incorrect" screen occasionally (several times an hour) when the
page refreshes.

   I am not using sieve, and while I have the PostgreSQL version
of the OpenBSD package installed, I do not currently use it for
authentication.  I am authenticating against the OpenBSD system.

   The only error I get in the mail log is:

Aug  3 11:00:09 fusion dovecot: imap-login: Aborted login (auth failed, 1
attempts): user=<benny>, method=PLAIN, rip=127.0.0.1, lip=127.0.0.1,
secured

   There are no errors in the Apache error log...  Squirrelmail's
version wasn't upgraded, so I don't think this is a Squirrelmail
problem as far as I can tell.

   My config is pretty simple:

# 1.2.13: /etc/dovecot.conf
Warning: fd limit 128 is lower than what Dovecot can use under full load
(more than 640). Either grow the limit or change login_max_processes_count
and max_mail_processes settings
# OS: OpenBSD 4.8 i386
base_dir: /var/dovecot/
listen: *, [::1]
ssl_cert_file: /etc/ssl/webmail.crt
ssl_key_file: /etc/ssl/private/webmail.key
login_dir: /var/dovecot/login
login_executable: /usr/local/libexec/dovecot/imap-login
login_user: _dovecot
mail_location: maildir:~/Maildir
mbox_write_locks: fcntl
imap_client_workarounds: delay-newmail netscape-eoh tb-extra-mailbox-sep
namespace:
  type: private
  prefix: INBOX.
  inbox: yes
  list: yes
  subscriptions: yes
lda:
  postmaster_address: postmaster at example.com
auth default:
  mechanisms: plain login
  passdb:
    driver: bsdauth
  userdb:
    driver: passwd
  socket:
    type: listen
    client:
      path: /var/spool/postfix/private/auth
      mode: 432
      user: _postfix
      group: _postfix

   Everything seems to be working just fine (ie, I don't get
any other IMAP errors or see any problems), it's just that it
will spontaneously fail to authenticate.  When this happens, it
may take more than one try to get logged back in.

   I checked with the OpenBSD port's maintainer, and he hadn't
heard of any similar issues (and he uses it himself).  Can anyone
please help?

Thank you so much!

Benny


-- 
"Something's going on in this house - last night, I saw a face!"
"Did it have a nose?"
"Yes!"
"That sounds like a face all right."
                                      -- Scary Movie 4