Active Directory Penetration Testing Services
Real World Security Testing for Active Directory Environments, Domain Infrastructure, and Identity Controls
Orasec delivers results driven Active Directory penetration testing services, identifying vulnerabilities that expose domain infrastructure, compromise identity controls, and undermine the security of Windows environments built on Active Directory. We go beyond surface level assessments by combining certified penetration testers, advanced methodologies, and real world attack simulation to uncover security weaknesses that genuinely impact organisations depending on Active Directory for authentication, authorisation, and access control across their environment.
Active Directory is the backbone of most enterprise networks. A single misconfiguration, weak delegation setting, or exploitable Kerberos implementation can give an attacker a direct path from a standard user account to full domain compromise making Active Directory penetration testing one of the highest value security assessments an organisation can invest in.
Why Active Directory Penetration Testing Matters
Active Directory misconfigurations and attack paths are consistently exploited in real world breaches, ransomware deployments, and advanced persistent threat operations. Attackers who gain initial network access target Active Directory immediately using privilege escalation techniques, lateral movement paths, and Kerberos attack vectors to move from a single compromised endpoint to complete domain control.
Orasec's Active Directory penetration testing methodology tests every layer of your domain environment from user account configurations and group policy settings to Kerberos implementations, delegation controls, and trust relationships ensuring your Active Directory security posture is resilient against the real world attack techniques targeting enterprise environments today.
The Active Directory Attack Surface
User Account and Password Security
Weak passwords, password reuse, accounts with no expiry, and service accounts with excessive privileges create exploitable entry points across Active Directory environments. Password spraying, credential stuffing, and AS REP roasting attacks target misconfigured account policies to gain initial domain footholds.
Kerberos Attack Vectors
Kerberos is the authentication protocol underpinning Active Directory. Kerberoasting, AS REP roasting, Pass the Ticket, Golden Ticket, and Silver Ticket attacks exploit Kerberos implementations to extract credential material, forge authentication tokens, and achieve persistent domain access without requiring plaintext credentials.
Privilege Escalation and Delegation
Misconfigured delegation settings, excessive group memberships, and over privileged service accounts create privilege escalation paths from standard user access to domain administrator control. Unconstrained delegation, constrained delegation abuse, and resource based constrained delegation create high value escalation vectors across Active Directory environments.
Lateral Movement Paths
Pass the Hash, Pass the Ticket, Overpass the Hash, and credential harvesting techniques allow attackers to move laterally across Active Directory environments using captured credential material pivoting from compromised endpoints to domain controllers and high value systems without triggering authentication failures.
Group Policy and ACL Misconfigurations
Misconfigured Group Policy Objects, weak access control lists, and excessive object permissions create paths for privilege escalation, persistence, and domain compromise. WriteDACL, GenericAll, GenericWrite, and ForceChangePassword permissions on sensitive Active Directory objects give attackers direct paths to domain control.
Domain Trust Relationships
Active Directory environments connected through domain and forest trusts create cross domain attack paths. Misconfigured trust relationships, SID history abuse, and trust transitivity exploitation allow attackers to move from a compromised child domain to parent domain and forest wide control.
Our Active Directory Penetration Testing Services
Active Directory Security Assessment
We conduct comprehensive penetration testing of Active Directory environments covering user account security, group policy configurations, privilege assignments, delegation settings, and access control list weaknesses. Testing identifies exploitable misconfigurations and attack paths across the entire domain environment.
Kerberos Attack Simulation
Our testers simulate real world Kerberos attacks including Kerberoasting, AS REP roasting, Pass the Ticket, Golden Ticket, and Silver Ticket techniques to identify exploitable service account configurations, weak encryption settings, and Kerberos implementation weaknesses across Active Directory environments.
Privilege Escalation Testing
We assess Active Directory privilege escalation paths including misconfigured delegation settings, excessive group memberships, over privileged service accounts, and ACL based escalation vectors. Testing confirms whether standard user access can be escalated to domain administrator control through identified misconfigurations.
Lateral Movement Simulation
Our testers simulate lateral movement across Active Directory environments using Pass the Hash, Pass the Ticket, credential harvesting, and remote execution techniques identifying paths from initial compromise to domain controllers and high value systems across the network.
BloodHound Attack Path Analysis
We use BloodHound and advanced graph based analysis to map Active Directory attack paths, identify shortest paths to domain compromise, and uncover non obvious privilege escalation routes across complex Active Directory environments that manual analysis alone would miss.
Domain Trust and Forest Security Testing
Our testing evaluates domain and forest trust relationships for misconfigured trust settings, SID history abuse opportunities, and cross domain attack paths that allow compromise to propagate from one domain to parent domains and forest wide infrastructure.
Active Directory Red Team Operation
For organisations requiring comprehensive Active Directory security validation, Orasec conducts full red team operations simulating advanced persistent threat techniques across Active Directory environments from initial compromise through lateral movement to domain controller access and forest wide control.
Our Active Directory Penetration Testing Methodology
Reconnaissance and Domain Enumeration
Active Directory structure, user accounts, group memberships, service accounts, Group Policy Objects, trust relationships, and delegation configurations are enumerated to establish a complete picture of the domain environment and identify high value attack targets.
Credential Attack Simulation
Password spraying, AS REP roasting, and Kerberoasting techniques are applied to identify weak and exploitable credentials across user and service accounts without triggering account lockout policies.
Privilege Escalation and ACL Analysis
Group Policy configurations, access control lists, delegation settings, and group memberships are assessed for privilege escalation paths from standard user access to administrative and domain controller access.
Lateral Movement and Credential Harvesting
Following initial access, lateral movement techniques including Pass the Hash, Pass the Ticket, and credential harvesting are applied to simulate attacker movement across the domain environment toward high value systems and domain controllers.
Domain Persistence Techniques
We assess Active Directory environments for persistence opportunities including Golden Ticket viability, DCSync rights, AdminSDHolder abuse, and skeleton key attack paths confirming whether attackers could maintain persistent domain access following initial compromise.
Detection and Response Evaluation
Testing evaluates whether existing monitoring, alerting, and incident response capabilities detect and respond to simulated Active Directory attack activity revealing visibility gaps across domain security operations.
Reporting and Remediation Guidance
Findings are delivered in a detailed report with risk ranked vulnerabilities, exploitation evidence, attack path documentation, and prioritised remediation guidance tailored to Active Directory operational and administrative constraints.
What Active Directory Penetration Testing Uncovers
- Kerberoastable service accounts with weak passwords enabling offline credential cracking
- AS REP roastable accounts with pre authentication disabled exposing credential material
- Unconstrained and misconfigured constrained delegation settings enabling privilege escalation
- ACL misconfigurations granting excessive permissions on sensitive Active Directory objects
- Pass the Hash and Pass the Ticket lateral movement paths across domain joined systems
- Domain controller vulnerabilities including ZeroLogon, PrintNightmare, and noPac exposures
- Weak Group Policy configurations creating privilege escalation and persistence opportunities
- Domain trust misconfigurations enabling cross domain and cross forest attack paths
- Over privileged service and user accounts creating direct paths to domain administrator access
- Golden Ticket and DCSync attack viability confirming persistent domain compromise potential
Deliverables from Our Active Directory Penetration Testing Services
Executive Summary
High level risk overview communicating domain security posture, key findings, and business impact for leadership and IT stakeholders
Technical Findings Report
Detailed vulnerability documentation with exploitation evidence, attack paths, and risk ratings across all identified Active Directory weaknesses
Attack Path Analysis
BloodHound based visual mapping of identified privilege escalation and lateral movement paths from standard user access to domain compromise
Kerberos Security Assessment
Dedicated findings covering Kerberoasting, AS REP roasting, delegation abuse, and ticket forgery attack viability across the domain environment
ACL and Permission Review
Comprehensive access control list findings covering misconfigured object permissions, excessive privileges, and exploitable delegation settings
Remediation Prioritisation
Risk ranked recommendations with practical guidance tailored to Active Directory administrative workflows and operational constraints
Retest Verification
Validation testing confirming remediation effectiveness across critical Active Directory findings
Why Organisations Choose Orasec for Active Directory Penetration Testing
Certified and Experienced Testers
Our testers specialise in Active Directory security with deep expertise across Kerberos attack techniques, privilege escalation paths, lateral movement simulation, and domain persistence methods.
Manual First Methodology
We go beyond automated scanning with expert manual testing and BloodHound based attack path analysis that uncovers complex privilege escalation chains, ACL abuse paths, and domain trust exploitation opportunities that automated tools consistently miss.
Real World Attack Simulation
Our assessments simulate the exact techniques used by ransomware operators, advanced persistent threat groups, and real world attackers targeting Active Directory environments not theoretical assessments based on configuration reviews alone.
Complete Domain Coverage
From user account security and Kerberos configurations to delegation settings, trust relationships, Group Policy, and domain controller security, Orasec provides complete Active Directory penetration testing coverage across your entire domain environment.
Actionable Outcomes
Every finding is documented with exploitation evidence, real world impact context, and remediation guidance that IT and security teams can act on immediately within existing Active Directory administration workflows.
Detection Gap Identification
Beyond finding vulnerabilities, Orasec identifies where your monitoring and detection capabilities fail to catch Active Directory attack techniques giving security operations teams the visibility gaps they need to address.
Frequently Asked Questions
Get Expert Active Directory Penetration Testing
Connect with Orasec's certified testers to assess your Active Directory environment, domain infrastructure, Kerberos configurations, or identity controls. Identify real attack paths before adversaries exploit them.
- Free 30 minute consultation
- Custom testing scope and pricing
- No obligation security review