Java's DIGEST-MD5 implementation dosnt quite match the Cyrus-SASL implementation (what Pidgin uses).  Ive not had the chance to look into it closely, but as a workaround you can tell Openfire to not use DIGEST-MD5 by configuring the exact SASL mechanisms to use in your openfire.xml :

Example:

<sasl>
  <mechanisms>PLAIN</mechanisms>
</sasl>

Im a little lost here- a bunch of people replied to my response, but none were the original author.  If you are "still" having a problem, please start a new thread and post your whole problem, or at least indicate what your full problem is if directly related to this one.

I could understand. It's hard to get hold of a security expert

Well, I never said it was Java's fault, just that the two dont match.  I would need to dig into the RFC and some sample code to really figure out which is incorrect.  Its possible Pidgin is using the CryusSASL libs incorrectly, or that Openfire is using the Java SASL incorrectly.  Without more data I cant tell.

Jay,

Do you know if it was ever determined what the source of the problem was?

Ilan