MD5-CRYPT/CRAM-MD5 vs SHA512-CRYPT/PLAIN

[Darren Pilgrim]

On 12/5/2014 3:24 AM, ML mail wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am wondering which variant is more secure for user authentication and password scheme. Basically I am looking at both variants:
>
> 1) MD5-CRYPT password scheme storage with CRAM-MD5 auth mechanism
> 2) SHA512-CRYPT password scheme storage with PLAIN auth mechanism
>
> In my opinion the option 2) should be safer although it is using PLAIN auth mechanism. Of course I would always use STARTTLS and not allow unencrypted connection.
>
> What is your opinion?

Option 2 without hesitation.

MD5-CRYPT:

- is extremely weak
- was phased out as the default password hash long ago
- needs to die out

CRAM-MD5:

- is either redundant or insufficient
- is not universally supported
- limits your authentication backend options