Active Directory:

Privilege Escalation

ACL abuse, Kerberos attacks, credential dumps, and operator group abuse

7 guides • Created Apr 5, 2026 • Updated Aug 11, 2026

7 guides

ACL Abuse Privilege Escalation

Exploiting misconfigured Active Directory ACLs to escalate privileges via WriteDACL, GenericAll, ForceChangePassword, and other abusable permissions.

Apr 5, 2026 • 5 min read

Password Attacks and Credential Abuse

Techniques for exploiting weak, reused, or cached credentials in Active Directory to escalate privileges via spraying, stuffing, Kerberoasting, and hash abuse.

Apr 5, 2026 • 5 min read

AD Password Cracking Strategies

Techniques for cracking AD password hashes using dictionary, brute-force, and rule-based attacks to escalate privileges within Active Directory environments.

Jun 11, 2026 • 5 min read

Privileged Group Abuse

Exploiting high-privileged AD groups (Domain Admins, Backup Operators, etc.) to escalate privileges, move laterally, and gain domain-wide control.

Jun 11, 2026 • 4 min read

Backup Operators and Server Operators Abuse

Exploiting Backup Operators and Server Operators groups in AD to escalate privileges via registry manipulation, service abuse, and SAM database extraction.

Apr 30, 2026 • 4 min read

DNSAdmins Privilege Escalation

Exploit the DNSAdmins group in Active Directory to load a malicious DLL via DNS service, achieving SYSTEM-level privilege escalation on domain controllers.

Jun 9, 2026 • 3 min read

Kerberos Abuse Privilege Escalation

Exploiting Kerberos authentication weaknesses in AD environments via techniques like Kerberoasting, AS-REP roasting, and ticket attacks to escalate privileges.

Apr 5, 2026 • 5 min read

AD privilege escalation moves you from a standard domain user to higher-privilege accounts or Domain Admin. Group membership abuse, token manipulation, GPO exploitation, and certificate template misconfiguration are the primary vectors.

Nested group memberships and indirect ACL chains often grant more access than intended. Token impersonation through SeImpersonatePrivilege or SeAssignPrimaryTokenPrivilege lets you escalate from service accounts. Writable GPOs linked to privileged OUs can push scheduled tasks or scripts to high-value targets.

Misconfigured ADCS certificate templates let you request certificates with elevated permissions, sometimes reaching Domain Admin in a single step.