diff --git a/src/shadow-core/src/crypt.rs b/src/shadow-core/src/crypt.rs
index 8e0bedf..f768d07 100644
--- a/src/shadow-core/src/crypt.rs
+++ b/src/shadow-core/src/crypt.rs
@@ -3,12 +3,13 @@
 // For the full copyright and license information, please view the LICENSE
 // file that was distributed with this source code.
 
-//! Safe wrapper around POSIX `crypt(3)` for password hash verification.
+//! Safe wrapper around POSIX `crypt(3)` for password hashing and verification.
 //!
 //! This is one of only two modules (along with `pam`) where `unsafe_code`
 //! is permitted, because `crypt(3)` is a C library function.
 
 use std::ffi::CString;
+use std::io::Read;
 
 use subtle::ConstantTimeEq;
 
@@ -19,6 +20,87 @@ unsafe extern "C" {
     fn crypt(key: *const libc::c_char, salt: *const libc::c_char) -> *mut libc::c_char;
 }
 
+/// crypt(3) salt alphabet (POSIX: [a-zA-Z0-9./]).
+const SALT_CHARS: &[u8] = b"./0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz";
+
+/// Supported crypt(3) hash methods.
+#[derive(Debug, Clone, Copy)]
+pub enum CryptMethod {
+    /// SHA-256 ($5$)
+    Sha256,
+    /// SHA-512 ($6$) — recommended default
+    Sha512,
+    /// yescrypt ($y$)
+    Yescrypt,
+}
+
+impl CryptMethod {
+    /// The crypt(3) prefix for this method.
+    fn prefix(self) -> &'static str {
+        match self {
+            Self::Sha256 => "$5$",
+            Self::Sha512 => "$6$",
+            Self::Yescrypt => "$y$j9T$",
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+/// Generate a random salt string for crypt(3).
+fn generate_salt(method: CryptMethod, rounds: Option<u32>) -> Result<String, ShadowError> {
+    let mut rand_bytes = [0u8; 16];
+    std::fs::File::open("/dev/urandom")
+        .and_then(|mut f| f.read_exact(&mut rand_bytes))
+        .map_err(|e| ShadowError::Other(format!("cannot read /dev/urandom: {e}").into()))?;
+
+    let salt_str: String = rand_bytes
+        .iter()
+        .map(|&b| SALT_CHARS[(b as usize) % SALT_CHARS.len()] as char)
+        .collect();
+
+    let prefix = method.prefix();
+    match rounds {
+        Some(r) => Ok(format!("{prefix}rounds={r}${salt_str}$")),
+        None => Ok(format!("{prefix}{salt_str}$")),
+    }
+}
+
+/// Hash a plaintext password using crypt(3).
+///
+/// Returns the full crypt(3) hash string (e.g. `$6$salt$hash...`).
+///
+/// # Errors
+///
+/// Returns `ShadowError` if the password contains null bytes, the salt
+/// cannot be generated, or crypt(3) fails.
+pub fn hash_password(
+    password: &str,
+    method: CryptMethod,
+    rounds: Option<u32>,
+) -> Result<String, ShadowError> {
+    let salt = generate_salt(method, rounds)?;
+    let c_password = CString::new(password)
+        .map_err(|_| ShadowError::Auth("password contains null byte".into()))?;
+    let c_salt = CString::new(salt.as_str())
+        .map_err(|_| ShadowError::Auth("salt contains null byte".into()))?;
+
+    // SAFETY: crypt() is provided by libcrypt/glibc. Both arguments are valid
+    // null-terminated C strings. The returned pointer is to a static/thread-local
+    // buffer managed by crypt().
+    let result = unsafe { crypt(c_password.as_ptr(), c_salt.as_ptr()) };
+
+    if result.is_null() {
+        return Err(ShadowError::Auth("crypt(3) returned NULL".into()));
+    }
+
+    // SAFETY: crypt() returned a non-null pointer to a null-terminated string.
+    let result_str = unsafe { std::ffi::CStr::from_ptr(result) };
+    let hash = result_str
+        .to_str()
+        .map_err(|_| ShadowError::Auth("crypt(3) returned invalid UTF-8".into()))?;
+
+    Ok(hash.to_string())
+}
+
 /// Verify a plaintext password against a crypt(3) hash.
 ///
 /// Returns `true` if the password matches the hash, `false` otherwise.