Active Directory Security Testing

---
name: ad-security-fedb83c6be00
description: Active Directory security testing and attack techniques
tags: [ad, windows, kerberos, ldap, internal-network]
version: "1.0"
---

# Active Directory Security Testing

## Credential Access Techniques

| ID    | Technique              | Tool                     | Description                      |
| ----- | ---------------------- | ------------------------ | -------------------------------- |
| CA-01 | Kerberoasting          | GetUserSPNs.py, Rubeus   | Request TGS for service accounts |
| CA-02 | AS-REP Roasting        | GetNPUsers.py, Rubeus    | Attack accounts without preauth  |
| CA-03 | DCSync                 | secretsdump.py, Mimikatz | Replicate DC credentials         |
| CA-04 | LSASS Dump             | Mimikatz, ProcDump       | Extract credentials from memory  |
| CA-05 | SAM/SYSTEM Dump        | secretsdump.py           | Extract local credentials        |
| CA-06 | NTDS.dit Extraction    | secretsdump.py           | Offline DC credential dump       |
| CA-07 | Cached Credentials     | Mimikatz                 | Extract cached domain creds      |
| CA-08 | DPAPI Secrets          | Mimikatz, SharpDPAPI     | Decrypt protected data           |
| CA-09 | Credential Vault       | Mimikatz                 | Windows credential manager       |
| CA-10 | Browser Credentials    | SharpChromium            | Chrome/Edge saved passwords      |
| CA-11 | LLMNR/NBT-NS Poisoning | Responder                | Capture NTLMv2 hashes            |
| CA-12 | NTLM Relay             | ntlmrelayx.py            | Relay captured authentication    |
| CA-13 | Password Spraying      | Spray, Kerbrute          | Test common passwords            |
| CA-14 | GPP Passwords          | Get-GPPPassword          | Decrypt Group Policy preferences |

## Privilege Escalation Techniques

| ID    | Technique                             | Tool                  | Description                              |
| ----- | ------------------------------------- | --------------------- | ---------------------------------------- |
| PE-01 | ACL Abuse                             | BloodHound, PowerView | WriteDACL, GenericAll abuse              |
| PE-02 | GPO Abuse                             | SharpGPOAbuse         | Modify group policy                      |
| PE-03 | AD CS ESC1                            | Certipy               | Template allows user SAN                 |
| PE-04 | AD CS ESC2                            | Certipy               | Any purpose EKU                          |
| PE-05 | AD CS ESC3                            | Certipy               | Enrollment agent abuse                   |
| PE-06 | AD CS ESC4                            | Certipy               | Template ACL abuse                       |
| PE-07 | AD CS ESC5                            | Certipy               | PKI object access control                |
| PE-08 | AD CS ESC6                            | Certipy               | EDITF_ATTRIBUTESUBJECTALTNAME2           |
| PE-09 | AD CS ESC7                            | Certipy               | CA ACL abuse                             |
| PE-10 | AD CS ESC8                            | Certipy               | NTLM relay to HTTP enrollment            |
| PE-11 | Constrained Delegation                | Rubeus, getST.py      | S4U2Self/S4U2Proxy abuse                 |
| PE-12 | Resource-Based Constrained Delegation | Rubeus                | msDS-AllowedToActOnBehalfOfOtherIdentity |

## Lateral Movement Techniques

| ID    | Technique         | Tool                   | Description                     |
| ----- | ----------------- | ---------------------- | ------------------------------- |
| LM-01 | Pass-the-Hash     | Mimikatz, pth-winexe   | Authenticate with NTLM hash     |
| LM-02 | Pass-the-Ticket   | Rubeus, Mimikatz       | Inject Kerberos tickets         |
| LM-03 | Overpass-the-Hash | Rubeus                 | Request TGT with NTLM hash      |
| LM-04 | PSExec            | Impacket, Sysinternals | Remote execution via SMB        |
| LM-05 | WMI Execution     | wmiexec.py             | Execute commands via WMI        |
| LM-06 | DCOM Execution    | dcomexec.py            | Distributed COM abuse           |
| LM-07 | WinRM             | evil-winrm             | PowerShell remoting             |
| LM-08 | RDP Hijacking     | tscon.exe              | Take over disconnected sessions |
| LM-09 | SMB Relay         | ntlmrelayx.py          | Relay auth to other hosts       |
| LM-10 | SSH (Linux)       | ssh                    | Lateral to Linux systems        |

## Persistence Techniques

| ID    | Technique       | Tool                  | Description                    |
| ----- | --------------- | --------------------- | ------------------------------ |
| PS-01 | Golden Ticket   | Mimikatz, ticketer.py | Forge TGT with KRBTGT hash     |
| PS-02 | Silver Ticket   | Mimikatz, ticketer.py | Forge TGS for specific service |
| PS-03 | Diamond Ticket  | Rubeus                | Modify legitimate TGT          |
| PS-04 | Skeleton Key    | Mimikatz              | Master password on DC          |
| PS-05 | AdminSDHolder   | PowerView             | Persistent admin rights        |
| PS-06 | DCShadow        | Mimikatz              | Rogue domain controller        |
| PS-07 | SID History     | Mimikatz              | Add privileged SID to history  |
| PS-08 | Machine Account | Powermad              | Add computer to domain         |

## Enumeration Commands

### BloodHound Collection

```bash
# SharpHound (Windows)
SharpHound.exe -c All --zipfilename bloodhound.zip

# BloodHound.py (Linux)
bloodhound-python -d domain.local -u user -p pass -ns 10.0.0.1 -c all

# NetExec BloodHound
nxc ldap 10.0.0.1 -u user -p pass --bloodhound --collection All
```

### LDAP Enumeration

```bash
# Get domain info
ldapsearch -x -H ldap://10.0.0.1 -D "user@domain.local" -w 'pass' -b "DC=domain,DC=local"

# Find users with SPN (Kerberoastable)
ldapsearch -x -H ldap://10.0.0.1 -D "user@domain.local" -w 'pass' \
  -b "DC=domain,DC=local" "(&(objectClass=user)(servicePrincipalName=*))" sAMAccountName

# Find users without preauth (AS-REP Roastable)
ldapsearch -x -H ldap://10.0.0.1 -D "user@domain.local" -w 'pass' \
  -b "DC=domain,DC=local" "(&(objectClass=user)(userAccountControl:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=4194304))"
```

### NetExec Commands

```bash
# Enumerate users
nxc smb 10.0.0.1 -u user -p pass --users

# Enumerate groups
nxc smb 10.0.0.1 -u user -p pass --groups

# Find shares
nxc smb 10.0.0.1 -u user -p pass --shares

# Check for admin access
nxc smb 10.0.0.0/24 -u user -p pass

# Password spray
nxc smb 10.0.0.1 -u users.txt -p 'Spring2024!' --no-bruteforce
```

## Attack Paths

### Path 1: Domain User to Domain Admin

```
User Credential
    │
    ├─► Kerberoast SPN accounts
    │   └─► Crack service account password
    │       └─► Service account is Domain Admin
    │
    ├─► BloodHound Path Finding
    │   └─► ACL chain to DA group
    │       └─► WriteDACL → GenericAll → Add to DA
    │
    └─► AD CS Misconfiguration
        └─► ESC1: Request cert as DA
            └─► Authenticate as DA
```

### Path 2: Compromised Workstation to DC

```
Local Admin on Workstation
    │
    ├─► LSASS dump → cached domain creds
    │   └─► Domain user credential
    │       └─► Continue as Path 1
    │
    ├─► Find admin sessions
    │   └─► Lateral move to server
    │       └─► Dump DA credentials
    │
    └─► Unconstrained Delegation
        └─► Coerce DC authentication
            └─► Capture TGT → DCSync
```

## Important Impacket Tools

| Tool           | Purpose                         |
| -------------- | ------------------------------- |
| GetUserSPNs.py | Kerberoasting                   |
| GetNPUsers.py  | AS-REP Roasting                 |
| secretsdump.py | Dump secrets (DCSync, SAM, LSA) |
| smbexec.py     | SMB-based execution             |
| wmiexec.py     | WMI-based execution             |
| psexec.py      | PSExec-style execution          |
| ntlmrelayx.py  | NTLM relay attacks              |
| getST.py       | Request service tickets         |
| ticketer.py    | Create Golden/Silver tickets    |
| lookupsid.py   | SID enumeration                 |
| samrdump.py    | SAM Remote interface dump       |

## Detection Evasion Considerations

| Action        | Detection             | Evasion                      |
| ------------- | --------------------- | ---------------------------- |
| Kerberoasting | 4769 events (RC4)     | Use AES encryption           |
| DCSync        | 4662 events           | Time-based, limit frequency  |
| Pass-the-Hash | 4624 Type 3 with NTLM | Overpass-the-Hash (Kerberos) |
| BloodHound    | LDAP queries          | Reduce collection scope      |
| Mimikatz      | AV signatures         | BOF, custom tools            |