[Dovecot] How to manually generate a password hash

[David Murphy]

Hi folks. I've recently set up a Postfix 2.9.6/Dovecot 2.0.19 IMAPS/SMTPS setup on Ubuntu 12.04.2 (Mysql backend). I'm new to all this, so I apologize if this is fairly basic. I've attempted to the best of my ability to search for an answer, but no luck so far.

What I'm trying to do is generate a password hash that I can inject directly into my Mysql database (disaster recovery sort of situation). Towards that goal, I'm trying to use 'doveadm pw' to generate a hash that matches a known password in my database. Unfortunately, I'm coming up empty.

My default_pass_scheme in dovecot-sql.conf is set to MD5-CRYPT, and the passwords in the database have no scheme prefixes. I'm attempting to generate a hash with:

  sudo doveadm pw -s 'MD5-CRYPT'

but the hash generated does not match the user's password hash in the database, which is known to be a good password. I'm able to log into this account successfully in both Roundcube and a remote IMAP client. I've also tried using the -p flag and including the password in the command, and that doesn't do it either, though it oddly gives a different response than using the prompt. (What causes this? Newlines?)

So... what am I missing? If the hash was salted, it would seem the hashes in the database would be longer than the ones generated at the command line, but that isn't the case. I'm out of ideas. Any guidance appreciated.

-Dave