From the Field: AD Vulnerabilities

๐Ÿ”Ž ๐—™๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—บ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—™๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฑ โ€” Real-World Findings from Security Assessments

๐Ÿ’ฅ ๐Ÿฑ๐Ÿณ.๐Ÿญ%ย of infrastructures Iโ€™ve assessed ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ปโ€™๐˜ ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—บ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜† ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ด๐˜‚๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฟ ๐˜ƒ๐˜‚๐—น๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐˜€๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด.

That number is surprisingly high โ€” especially when so many great tools are available for free. Even if you’re not doing a full pentest, thereโ€™s still ๐—ฎ ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ฑ๐—ผ ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ป.

This becomes especially important if your Active Directory is 5+ years old. Admins come and go, ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฐ๐˜‚๐—บ๐˜‚๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ, and over time, youโ€™re left with a ๐˜ƒ๐˜‚๐—น๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฝ. Even a one-admin environment can suffer from tunnel vision.

๐—ฌ๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ด๐˜‚๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—น๐˜† ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜„ whether your environment still aligns with security best practices. Here are some tools Iโ€™ve personally used and can recommend:

๐Ÿ”น ๐—”๐——๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ โ€” my own tool to scan Active Directory for vulnerabilities and persistence techniques

๐Ÿ”น ๐—ฃ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—ž๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ต๐˜ย (Semperis) โ€” scans for AD vulnerabilities and misconfigurations

๐Ÿ”น ๐—™๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜ ๐——๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—ฑย (Semperis) โ€” a lighter, targeted version focused on AD paths

๐Ÿ”น ๐—•๐—น๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—›๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฑ (SpecterOps)โ€” one of the most powerful tools to find privilege escalation paths (even referenced in CIS materials)

๐Ÿ”น ๐—ฃ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด๐—–๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜๐—น๐—ฒย (Netwrix Corporation) โ€” great for auditing your AD and identifying weaknesses

This isnโ€™t a sponsored list โ€” just tools I trust and have ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต.

โœ… ๐—ฃ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ธ ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ด๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—”๐—— ๐—ฎ ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐˜‚๐—ฝ โ€” even a quick scan can reveal major issues.