DACL abuse
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Access privileges for resources in Active Directory Domain Services are usually granted through the use of an Access Control Entry (ACE). Access Control Entries describe the allowed and denied permissions for a principal (e.g. user, computer account) in Active Directory against a securable object (user, group, computer, container, organizational unit (OU), GPO and so on)
DACLs (Active Directory Discretionary Access Control Lists) are lists made of ACEs (Access Control Entries) that identify the users and groups that are allowed or denied access on an object. SACLs (Systems Access Control Lists) define the audit and monitoring rules over a securable object.
When misconfigured, ACEs can be abused to operate lateral movement or privilege escalation within an AD domain.
If an object's (called objectA) DACL features an ACE stating that another object (called objectB) has a specific right (e.g. GenericAll) over it (i.e. over objectA), attackers need to be in control of objectB to take control of objectA. The following abuses can only be carried out when running commands as the user mentioned in the ACE (objectB) (see ).
DACL abuse potential paths can be identified by BloodHound from UNIX-like (using the Python ingestor ) and Windows (using the ingestor) systems.
Other tools like, Get-DomainObjectAcl and Add-DomainObjectAcl from 's , Get-Acl and Set-Acl official Powershell cmdlets, or 's dacledit.py script (Python) can be used in order to manually inspect an object's DACL. At the time of writing, the Pull Request () offering that dacledit is still being reviewed and in active development. It has the following command-line arguments.
See this page for more details
In order to navigate the notes, testers can use the mindmap below.
All of the aforementioned attacks (red blocks) are detailed in the child notes, except:
Self-attacks
BloodHound has the ability to map abuse paths, with some that rely on DACL abuse. The following edges are not includes in the mindmap above:
SyncLAPSPassword, both DS-GetChanges and DS-GetChangesInFilteredSet, for synchronizing LAPS password domain-wise
The following table should help for better understanding of the ACE types and what they allow.
WriteDacl
ADS_RIGHT_WRITE_DAC
Access Right
Edit the object's DACL (i.e. "inbound" permissions).
GenericAll
ADS_RIGHT_GENERIC_ALL
Access Right
Combination of almost all other rights.
GenericWrite
ADS_RIGHT_GENERIC_WRITE
Access Right
Combination of write permissions (Self, WriteProperty) among other things.
WriteProperty
ADS_RIGHT_DS_WRITE_PROP
Access Right
Edit one of the object's attributes. The attribute is referenced by an "ObjectType GUID".
WriteOwner
ADS_RIGHT_WRITE_OWNER
Access Right
Assume the ownership of the object (i.e. new owner of the victim = attacker, cannot be set to another user).
With the "SeRestorePrivilege" right it is possible to specify an arbitrary owner.
Self
ADS_RIGHT_DS_SELF
Access Right
Perform "Validated writes" (i.e. edit an attribute's value and have that value verified and validate by AD). The "Validated writes" is referenced by an "ObjectType GUID".
AllExtendedRights
ADS_RIGHT_DS_CONTROL_ACCESS
Access Right
Peform "Extended rights". "AllExtendedRights" refers to that permission being unrestricted. This right can be restricted by specifying the extended right in the "ObjectType GUID".
User-Force-Change-Password
00299570-246d-11d0-a768-00aa006e0529
Control Access Right (extended right)
Change the password of the object without having to know the previous one.
DS-Replication-Get-Changes
1131f6aa-9c07-11d1-f79f-00c04fc2dcd2
Control Access Right (extended right)
DS-Replication-Get-Changes-All
1131f6ad-9c07-11d1-f79f-00c04fc2dcd2
Control Access Right (extended right)
Self-Membership
bf9679c0-0de6-11d0-a285-00aa003049e2
Validate Write
Edit the "member" attribute of the object.
Validated-SPN
f3a64788-5306-11d1-a9c5-0000f80367c1
Validate Write
Edit the "servicePrincipalName" attribute of the object.
SPN-jacking: very specific scenario, requires lots of access: see
Shadow Credentials: see
Kerberos RBCD: see
GPO abuses: see
DCSync : see
User and computers objects can conduct a attack on themselves.
Computer objects can conduct a attack on themselves.
If attacker can write an ACE (WriteDacl) for a container or organisational unit (OU), if inheritance flags are added (0x01+ 0x02) to the ACE, and inheritance is enabled for an object in that container/OU, the ACE will be applied to it. Impacket's dacledit (Python) can be used with the -inheritance flag for that purpose ().
AddKeyCredentialLink, a write permission on an object's Key-Credential-Link attribute, for attacks
WriteSPN, a write permission on an object's Service-Principal-Name attribute, for and attacks
AddSelf, similar to AddMember. While AddMember is WriteProperty access right on the target's Member attribute, AddSelf is a Self access right on the target's Member attribute, allowing the attacker to , instead of adding arbitrary principals.
AddAllowedToAct, a write permission on an object's msDS-Allowed-To-Act-On-Behalf-Of-Other-Identity attribute, for attacks
WriteAccountRestrictions, which refers to the User-Account-Restrictions property set, which contains enough permissions to modify the msDS-Allowed-To-Act-On-Behalf-Of-Other-Identity attribute of the target objects, for attacks
One of the two extended rights needed to operate a .
One of the two extended rights needed to operate a .
