Python crypt.crypt not using sha512 despite $6$

Question

For some reason using the crypt module uses the 13 char hash rather than sha-512 no matter what I try. I have seen countless questions about problems, but none of them match mine. Is there simply no way to change the crypt method?

>>> import crypt
>>> print(crypt.crypt("password", salt="$6$saltsalt"))
$6FMi11BJFsAc
>>> print(crypt.crypt("password", crypt.METHOD_SHA512))
$6FMi11BJFsAc
>>>

Not sure exactly what is going on. If this is a case-specific thing, are there alternatives to crypt that have the same crypt(3) functionality?

Thanks in advance!

What version of Python are you using? You need at least Python 3.3 to get an implementation that understands the `$6$...` format to select different hashing algorithms. — ottomeister, Sep 30 '18 at 01:31

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 19 '18 at 17:07

This is, unfortunately, an issue with the crypt(3) implementation on Macs. There is a cross-platform crypt library, passlib, but it doesn't seem to have received any updates in over a year; still, it's one Ansible recommends in it's FAQ, for example.

Python crypt.crypt not using sha512 despite $6$

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