diff --git a/smack-sasl-provided/src/main/java/org/jivesoftware/smack/sasl/provided/SASLDigestMD5Mechanism.java b/smack-sasl-provided/src/main/java/org/jivesoftware/smack/sasl/provided/SASLDigestMD5Mechanism.java
index 309c25527..1c0a8370a 100644
--- a/smack-sasl-provided/src/main/java/org/jivesoftware/smack/sasl/provided/SASLDigestMD5Mechanism.java
+++ b/smack-sasl-provided/src/main/java/org/jivesoftware/smack/sasl/provided/SASLDigestMD5Mechanism.java
@@ -104,6 +104,13 @@ public class SASLDigestMD5Mechanism extends SASLMechanism {
                 String[] keyValue = part.split("=");
                 assert (keyValue.length == 2);
                 String key = keyValue[0];
+                // RFC 2831 § 7.1 about the formating of the digest-challenge:
+                // "The full form is "<n>#<m>element" indicating at least <n> and
+                // at most <m> elements, each separated by one or more commas
+                // (",") and OPTIONAL linear white space (LWS)."
+                // Which means the key value may be preceded by whitespace,
+                // which is what we remove: *Only the preceding whitespace*.
+                key = key.replaceFirst("^\\s+", "");
                 String value = keyValue[1];
                 if ("nonce".equals(key)) {
                     if (nonce != null) {