Secure Active Directory and Eliminate Attack Paths

Privileged accounts running Kerberos services

Highly privileged accounts using a brute-forceable Kerberos Service Principal Name

Kerberom

Privilege Escalation, Lateral movement, Persistence

Dangerous Kerberos delegation

Check that no dangerous delegation (unconstrained, protocol transition, etc.) is authorized

Nishang

Privilege Escalation, Lateral movement, Persistence

Use of weak cryptography algorithms into Active Directory PKI

Root certificates deployed on internal Active Directory PKI must not use weak cryptographic algorithms

ANSSI-ADCP

Persistence, Privilege escalation, Lateral movement

Dangerous access rights delegation on critical objects

Some access rights allowing illegitimate users to control critical objects have been found

BloodHound

Exfiltration, Lateral movement, Command and control, Credential access, Privilege escalation

Multiple issues in the password policy

On some specific accounts, the current password policies are insufficient to ensure robust credentials protection

Patator

Defense evasion, Lateral movement, Credential access, Privilege escalation

Dangerous RODC management accounts

The administrative groups in charge of Read-Only Domain Controllers contain abnormal accounts

Impacket

Credential access, Defense evasion, Privilege escalation

Sensitive GPO linked to critical objects

Some GPO managed by non-administrative accounts are linked to sensitive Active Directory objects (e.g. the KDC account, Domain Controllers, administrative groups, etc.)

ANSSI-ADCP

Command and control, Credential access, Persistence, Privilege escalation

Administrative accounts allowed to connect to other systems than the Domain Controllers

The security policies deployed on the monitored infrastructure does not prevent administrative accounts to connect to resources other than DC, leading to sensitive credentials exposure

CrackMapExec

Defense evasion, Credential access

Dangerous trust relationship

Misconfigured trust relationship attributes decrease the security of a directory infrastructure

Kekeo

Lateral movement, Credential access, Privilege escalation, Defense evasion

Reversible passwords in GPO

Verify that no GPO contain passwords stored in a reversible format

SMB Password crawler

Credential access, Privilege escalation

Computers running an obsolete OS

Obsolete systems are not supported by the editor anymore and greatly increase the infrastructure vulnerability

Metasploit

Lateral movement, Command and control

Accounts using a pre-Windows 2000 compatible access control

Account member of the pre-Windows 2000 Compatible Access Group can bypass specific security measures

Impacket

Lateral movement, Defense evasion

Local administrative account management

Ensure local administrative accounts are managed centrally and securely using LAPS

CrackMapExec

Defense evasion, Credential access, Lateral movement

Dangerous anonymous users configuration

Anonymous access is activated on the monitored Active Directory infrastructure leading to sensitive information leak

Impacket

Exfiltration

Abnormal RODC filtered attributes

The filtering policies applied on some Read-Only Domain Controllers can lead to sensitive information caching, allowing privilege escalations

Mimikatz (DCShadow)

Privilege escalation, Defense evasion

Lacking restriction on lateral movements attack scenario

Lateral movement restriction has not been activated on the monitored Active Directory infrastructure, allowing attackers to bounce from machine to machine with the same level of privileges

CrackMapExec

Lateral movement

Clear-text password stored in DC shares

Some files on DC shares, accessible by any authenticated user, are likely to contain clear-text password, allowing privilege escalation

SMBSpider

Credential access, Privilege escalation, Persistence

Dangerous access control rights on logon scripts

Some scripts, run during a computer or a user logon, have dangerous access rights, leading to privilege escalation

Metasploit

Lateral movement, Privilege escalation, Persistence

Dangerous parameters are used in GPO

Some dangerous parameters (e.g. restricted groups, LM hash computation, NTLM authentication level, sensitive parameters, etc.) are set by GPO, creating security breaches

Responder

Discovery, Credential access, Execution, Persistence, Privilege escalation, Defense evasion

Dangerous parameters defined in the User Account Control configuration

The User Account Control attribute of some user accounts defines dangerous parameters (e.g. PASSWD_NOTREQD or PARTIAL_SECRETS_ACCOUNT), which endanger the security of said account

Mimikatz (LSADump)

Persistence, Privilege escalation, Defense evasion

Lacking application of security patches

Some server registered in Active Directory did not recently apply security updates

Metasploit

Command and control Privilege escalation, Defense evasion

Brute force attempt on user accounts

Some user accounts have been targeted by a brute force attempt

Patator

Credential access

Kerberos configuration on user account

Some accounts are using weak Kerberos configuration

Mimikatz (Silver Ticket)

Credential access, Privilege escalation

Abnormal share or file stored on the DC

Some domain controllers are used to host non-necessary files or network shares

SMBSpider

Discovery, Exfiltration

Backdooring technique

Description

Known Offensive tools

Mitre attack Matrix

Ensure SDProp consistency

Control that the adminSDHolder object is in a clean state

Mimikatz (Golden Ticket)

Privilege escalation, Persistence

Ensure SDProp consistency

Verify that users’ primary group has not been changed

BloodHound

Privilege escalation, Persistence

Verify root domain object permissions

Ensure the permissions set on the root domain object are sane

BloodHound

Privilege escalation, Persistence

Verify sensitive GPO objects and files permissions

Ensure that permissions set on the GPO objects and files linked to sensitive containers (like the Domain Controllers OU) are sane

BloodHound

Execution, Privilege escalation, Persistence

Dangerous access rights on RODC KDC account

The KDC account used on some Read-Only Domain Controllers can be controlled by illegitimate user account, leading to credential leaks

Mimikatz (DCSync)

Privilege escalation, Persistence

Sensitive certificates mapped to user accounts

Some X509 certificates are stored in the altSecurityIdentities user account attribute, allowing certificate’s private key owner to authenticate as this user

Command and control, Credential access, Privilege escalation, Persistence

Rogue Krbtgt SPN set on regular account

The Service Principal Name of the KDC is present on some regular user account, leading to Kerberos tickets forgery

Mimikatz (Golden Ticket)

Privilege escalation, Persistence

KDC password last change

KDC account password must be changed regularly

Mimikatz (Golden Ticket)

Credential access, Privilege escalation, Persistence

Accounts having a dangerous SID History attribute

Check user or computer accounts using a privileged SID in SID history attribute

DeathStar

Privilege escalation, Persistence

Rogue domain controllers

Ensure only legitimate Domain controller servers are registered into Active Directory infrastructure

Mimikatz (DCShadow)

Execution, Defense evasion, Privilege escalation, Persistence

Illegitimate Bitlocker key access control

Some Bitlocker recovery keys stored in Active Directory can be accessed by other people than administrators and linked computers

ANSSI-ADCP

Credential access, Privilege escalation, Persistence

Abnormal entries in the Schema security descriptor

The Active Directory Schema has been modified leading to new standard access rights or objects that can endanger the monitored infrastructure

BloodHound

Privilege escalation, Persistence

DSRM account activated

The Active Directory recovery account has been activated, exposing it to credential theft

Mimikatz (LSADump)

Credential access, Execution, Defense evasion, Privilege escalation, Persistence

Authentication hash not renewed when using smartcard

Some user accounts using smartcard authentication do not renew their credentials hash frequently enough

Mimikatz (LSADump)

Persistence

Reversible passwords for User accounts

Verify no parameter make passwords stored in a reversible format

Mimikatz (DC Sync)

Credential access

Use of explicit denied access on containers

Some Active Directory containers or OUs define explicit denied access, leading to potential backdoor concealment

BloodHound

Defense evasion, Persistence