diff --git a/asyncpg/protocol/scram.pxd b/asyncpg/protocol/scram.pxd
index 5421429a..e2bb3b68 100644
--- a/asyncpg/protocol/scram.pxd
+++ b/asyncpg/protocol/scram.pxd
@@ -27,5 +27,5 @@ cdef class SCRAMAuthentication:
     cdef _bytes_xor(self, bytes a, bytes b)
     cdef _generate_client_nonce(self, int num_bytes)
     cdef _generate_client_proof(self, str password)
-    cdef _generate_salted_password(self, str password, bytes salt, int iterations)
+    cpdef _generate_salted_password(self, str password, bytes salt, int iterations)
     cdef _normalize_password(self, str original_password)
diff --git a/asyncpg/protocol/scram.pyx b/asyncpg/protocol/scram.pyx
index 9b485aee..337d7b28 100644
--- a/asyncpg/protocol/scram.pyx
+++ b/asyncpg/protocol/scram.pyx
@@ -227,31 +227,21 @@ cdef class SCRAMAuthentication:
         # and the proof
         return self._bytes_xor(client_key.digest(), client_signature.digest())
 
-    cdef _generate_salted_password(self, str password, bytes salt, int iterations):
+    cpdef _generate_salted_password(self, str password, bytes salt, int iterations):
         """This follows the "Hi" algorithm specified in RFC5802"""
         cdef:
             bytes p
             bytes s
-            bytes u
 
         # convert the password to a binary string - UTF8 is safe for SASL
         # (though there are SASLPrep rules)
         p = password.encode("utf8")
         # the salt needs to be base64 decoded -- full binary must be used
         s = base64.b64decode(salt)
-        # the initial signature is the salt with a terminator of a 32-bit string
-        # ending in 1
-        ui = hmac.new(p, s + b'\x00\x00\x00\x01', self.DIGEST)
-        # grab the initial digest
-        u = ui.digest()
-        # for X number of iterations, recompute the HMAC signature against the
-        # password and the latest iteration of the hash, and XOR it with the
-        # previous version
-        for x in range(iterations - 1):
-            ui = hmac.new(p, ui.digest(), hashlib.sha256)
-            # this is a fancy way of XORing two byte strings together
-            u = self._bytes_xor(u, ui.digest())
-        return u
+        # hashlib.pbkdf2_hmac is PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256: the same output as the
+        # Python loop this replaces, computed in C.  SHA-256 is hardcoded
+        # because SCRAM-SHA-256 is the only method this class supports.
+        return hashlib.pbkdf2_hmac("sha256", p, s, iterations)
 
     cdef _normalize_password(self, str original_password):
         """Normalize the password using the SASLprep from RFC4013"""
diff --git a/tests/test_scram.py b/tests/test_scram.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..dbf177d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_scram.py
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+# Copyright (C) 2016-present the asyncpg authors and contributors
+# <see AUTHORS file>
+#
+# This module is part of asyncpg and is released under
+# the Apache 2.0 License: http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+import base64
+import hashlib
+import hmac
+import unittest
+
+from asyncpg.protocol.protocol import SCRAMAuthentication
+
+
+# PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA-256 vectors from RFC 7914, Section 11.  SCRAM only
+# needs one block, so the expected values are the first halves of the
+# RFC's 64-byte outputs.
+RFC7914_VECTORS = [
+    (b"passwd", b"salt", 1,
+     "55ac046e56e3089fec1691c22544b605"
+     "f94185216dde0465e68b9d57c20dacbc"),
+    (b"Password", b"NaCl", 80000,
+     "4ddcd8f60b98be21830cee5ef22701f9"
+     "641a4418d04c0414aeff08876b34ab56"),
+]
+
+# Salted password from the SCRAM-SHA-256 example in RFC 7677, Section 3
+# (password "pencil", with the salt and iteration count from the server).
+RFC7677_PASSWORD = "pencil"
+RFC7677_SALT = b"W22ZaJ0SNY7soEsUEjb6gQ=="
+RFC7677_ITERATIONS = 4096
+RFC7677_SALTED_PASSWORD = (
+    "c4a49510323ab4f952cac1fa99441939"
+    "e78ea74d6be81ddf7096e87513dc615d"
+)
+
+
+def reference_hifi(password, salt, iterations):
+    """The RFC 5802 Hi() loop that the salted password used to implement."""
+    p = password.encode("utf8")
+    u = hmac.new(p, salt + b"\x00\x00\x00\x01", hashlib.sha256).digest()
+    result = u
+    for _ in range(iterations - 1):
+        u = hmac.new(p, u, hashlib.sha256).digest()
+        result = bytes(a ^ b for a, b in zip(result, u))
+    return result
+
+
+class TestSCRAMSaltedPassword(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.scram = SCRAMAuthentication(b"SCRAM-SHA-256")
+
+    def test_rfc7914_vectors(self):
+        for password, salt, iterations, expected in RFC7914_VECTORS:
+            derived = self.scram._generate_salted_password(
+                password.decode(), base64.b64encode(salt), iterations)
+            self.assertEqual(derived.hex(), expected)
+
+    def test_rfc7677_salted_password(self):
+        derived = self.scram._generate_salted_password(
+            RFC7677_PASSWORD, RFC7677_SALT, RFC7677_ITERATIONS)
+        self.assertEqual(derived.hex(), RFC7677_SALTED_PASSWORD)
+
+    def test_matches_reference_hifi(self):
+        cases = [
+            ("pencil", b"W22ZaJ0SNY7soEsUEjb6gQ==", 4096),
+            ("passwd", b"c2FsdA==", 1),
+            ("passwd", b"c2FsdA==", 2),
+            ("p\u00e4ssw\u00f6rd", b"c2FsdA==", 100),
+        ]
+        for password, salt, iterations in cases:
+            expected = reference_hifi(
+                password, base64.b64decode(salt), iterations)
+            derived = self.scram._generate_salted_password(
+                password, salt, iterations)
+            self.assertEqual(derived, expected)
+
+    def test_uses_hashlib_pbkdf2_hmac(self):
+        calls = []
+        pbkdf2_hmac = hashlib.pbkdf2_hmac
+
+        def spy(digest, password, salt, iterations):
+            calls.append((digest, password, salt, iterations))
+            return pbkdf2_hmac(digest, password, salt, iterations)
+
+        hashlib.pbkdf2_hmac = spy
+        try:
+            derived = self.scram._generate_salted_password(
+                RFC7677_PASSWORD, RFC7677_SALT, RFC7677_ITERATIONS)
+        finally:
+            hashlib.pbkdf2_hmac = pbkdf2_hmac
+
+        self.assertEqual(calls, [(
+            "sha256", RFC7677_PASSWORD.encode(),
+            base64.b64decode(RFC7677_SALT), RFC7677_ITERATIONS)])
+        self.assertEqual(derived.hex(), RFC7677_SALTED_PASSWORD)
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    unittest.main()