Adversaries may attempt to access credentials and other sensitive information by abusing a Windows Domain Controller's application programming interface (API)^{[1],[2],[3],[4]} to simulate the replication process from a remote domain controller using a technique called DCSync.

Members of the Administrators, Domain Admins, and Enterprise Admin groups or computer accounts on the domain controller are able to run DCSync to pull password data^[5] from Active Directory, which may include current and historical hashes of potentially useful accounts such as KRBTGT and Administrators. The hashes can then in turn be used to create a Golden Ticket for use in Pass the Ticket^[6] or change an account's password as noted in Account Manipulation.^[7]

DCSync functionality has been included in the "lsadump" module in Mimikatz.^[8] Lsadump also includes NetSync, which performs DCSync over a legacy replication protocol.^[9]

References

1. Microsoft. (2017, December 1). MS-DRSR Directory Replication Service (DRS) Remote Protocol. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
2. Microsoft. (n.d.). IDL_DRSGetNCChanges (Opnum 3). Retrieved December 4, 2017.
3. SambaWiki. (n.d.). DRSUAPI. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
4. Wine API. (n.d.). samlib.dll. Retrieved November 17, 2024.
5. Metcalf, S. (2015, September 25). Mimikatz DCSync Usage, Exploitation, and Detection. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
6. Schroeder, W. (2015, September 22). Mimikatz and DCSync and ExtraSids, Oh My. Retrieved September 23, 2024.
7. Warren, J. (2017, July 11). Manipulating User Passwords with Mimikatz. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
8. Deply, B., Le Toux, V. (2016, June 5). module ~ lsadump. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
9. Microsoft. (2017, December 1). MS-NRPC - Netlogon Remote Protocol. Retrieved December 6, 2017.

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