I am running dovecot v1.2.10 on a FreeBSD server and I am facing problems authenticating using pam. I always get the error message, although I do provide the right password: pam_authenticate() failed: authentication error (password mismatch?) I use /etc/pam.d/imap: # # PAM configuration for the "imap" service # # auth auth sufficient /usr/local/lib/pam_ldap.so no_warn try_first_pass auth required pam_unix.so no_warn try_first_pass # account account required pam_unix.so and my config: srvfbsd01# dovecot -n # 1.2.10: /usr/local/etc/dovecot.conf # OS: FreeBSD 8.0-RELEASE-p2 amd64 protocols: imap ssl: no disable_plaintext_auth: no login_dir: /var/run/dovecot/login login_executable: /usr/local/libexec/dovecot/imap-login verbose_proctitle: yes first_valid_uid: 1000 first_valid_gid: 0 mail_location: maildir:~/Maildir namespace: type: private separator: . inbox: yes list: yes subscriptions: yes namespace: type: public separator: . prefix: Public. location: maildir:/home/vmail/public list: yes auth default: debug: yes passdb: driver: pam args: failure_show_msg=yes cache_key=%u imap passdb: driver: passwd-file args: /usr/local/etc/dovecot/vmail userdb: driver: passwd userdb: driver: passwd-file args: /usr/local/etc/dovecot/vmail Logging: Aug 18 12:48:10 srvfbsd01 dovecot: auth(default): passwd-file /usr/local/etc/dovecot/vmail: Read 6 users Aug 18 12:48:10 srvfbsd01 dovecot: auth-worker(default): passwd-file /usr/local/etc/dovecot/vmail: Read 6 users Aug 18 12:48:11 srvfbsd01 dovecot: auth(default): new auth connection: pid=3690 Aug 18 12:48:11 srvfbsd01 dovecot: auth(default): new auth connection: pid=3688 Aug 18 12:48:11 srvfbsd01 dovecot: auth(default): new auth connection: pid=3689 Aug 18 12:48:14 srvfbsd01 dovecot: auth(default): client in: AUTH 1 PLAIN service=imap lip=10.0.10.150 rip=10.0.10.71 lport=143 rport=3583 Aug 18 12:48:14 srvfbsd01 dovecot: auth(default): client out: CONT 1 Aug 18 12:48:14 srvfbsd01 dovecot: auth(default): client in: CONT<hidden> Aug 18 12:48:14 srvfbsd01 dovecot: auth-worker(default): pam(daniel,10.0.10.71): lookup service=imap Aug 18 12:48:14 srvfbsd01 dovecot: auth-worker(default): pam(daniel,10.0.10.71): #1/1 style=1 msg=Password: Aug 18 12:48:14 srvfbsd01 dovecot: auth-worker(default): pam(daniel,10.0.10.71): pam_authenticate() failed: authentication error (password mismatch?) Aug 18 12:48:14 srvfbsd01 dovecot: auth(default): passwd-file(daniel,10.0.10.71): lookup: user=daniel file=/usr/local/etc/dovecot/vmail Aug 18 12:48:14 srvfbsd01 dovecot: auth(default): passwd-file(daniel,10.0.10.71): unknown user Aug 18 12:48:14 srvfbsd01 dovecot: auth(default): new auth connection: pid=3691 Aug 18 12:48:16 srvfbsd01 dovecot: auth(default): client out: FAIL 1 user=daniel Aug 18 12:48:21 srvfbsd01 dovecot: auth(default): client in: AUTH 2 PLAIN service=imap lip=10.0.10.150 rip=10.0.10.71 lport=143 rport=3583 resp=<hidden> Aug 18 12:48:21 srvfbsd01 dovecot: auth-worker(default): pam(daniel,10.0.10.71): lookup service=imap Aug 18 12:48:21 srvfbsd01 dovecot: auth-worker(default): pam(daniel,10.0.10.71): #1/1 style=1 msg=Password: Aug 18 12:48:21 srvfbsd01 dovecot: auth-worker(default): pam(daniel,10.0.10.71): pam_authenticate() failed: authentication error (password mismatch?) Aug 18 12:48:21 srvfbsd01 dovecot: auth(default): passwd-file(daniel,10.0.10.71): lookup: user=daniel file=/usr/local/etc/dovecot/vmail Aug 18 12:48:21 srvfbsd01 dovecot: auth(default): passwd-file(daniel,10.0.10.71): unknown user Aug 18 12:48:23 srvfbsd01 dovecot: auth(default): client out: FAIL 2 user=daniel