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Active Directory Security

Active Directory is the backbone of most Windows environments, and the most targeted part of your infrastructure. This page collects everything I've written on AD security.

The Attack Chain

These posts follow a connected attack path, the techniques build on each other the way real attacks do. Understanding the full chain is what separates a reactive response from a hardened environment.

  • Active Directory Health Assessment - A poorly maintained AD environment has more exposure. Replication failures, DNS issues, and stale accounts all create openings.

  • Active Directory Trust Security - Attackers enumerate trust relationships first. A misconfigured trust can give access to a higher-privilege domain without needing to compromise it directly.

  • Duplicate SPNs - Duplicate SPNs force Kerberos to fall back to NTLM, creating the conditions that make the next steps easier

  • Kerberoasting - Attacker requests service tickets for accounts with SPNs and cracks them offline to obtain service account credentials.

  • AS-REP Roasting - Attacker targets accounts with pre-authentication disabled, no credentials needed to request a crackable hash.

  • Unconstrained Kerberos Delegation - With a foothold on a server configured for unconstrained delegation, the attacker harvests TGTs from every privileged user who connects, including domain admins.

  • DCSync Attack - With sufficient privileges obtained through the steps above, the attacker pulls every password hash in the domain without touching a domain controller.

Administration and Hardening

These posts cover the administrative and configuration work that reduces your AD attack surface before an attacker gets a foothold.

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