This is a followup answer to say that I did use vt-password, and I'm happy with the results.
I started out with vt-password version 2.0 and hacked it around a bit to get it to work with Spring wiring, and address the thread safety issues I alluded to in my comments on @Pascal's answer. That was enough to get on with.
A few weeks back, the vt-middleware team released vt-password 3.0, based (in small part) on my feedback concerning 2.0. This new release addressed all of the issues I had hacked around, and I have now ditched my local mods and am using vt-password 3.0 as is. They have also uploaded their stuff to Maven Central, and improved the online documentation.