feat: add comprehensive automation modules for AD and Windows exploitation#233
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feat: add comprehensive automation modules for AD and Windows exploitation#233
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) **Key Changes:** - Added extensive unit and integration tests across all modules in ares-cli, ares-core, ares-llm, and ares-tools - Improved test coverage for pure functions, builder APIs, input validation, and end-to-end tool workflows - Introduced mock executor for ares-tools to enable isolated tool wrapper testing - Enhanced test assertions to cover edge cases, deduplication, and error handling **Added:** - Unit tests for config, deduplication, label normalization, user and credential processing, and MITRE technique detection in ares-cli - Direct tests for time window plumbing, builder logic, and detection query composition in detection/techniques - Test modules for orchestrator automation helpers, deduplication keys, domain/host logic, and parent/child domain matching - Test coverage for orchestrator state persistence, publishing, milestones, and redis-backed dedup sets - Tests for result processing, admin checks, parsing, timeline event classification, and critical hash detection - Mock Redis connection and in-memory state for ares-core, including scan, pipeline, and set/hash/list operations - End-to-end and unit tests for gap analysis, recommendations, ground truth transformation, and scoring in ares-core eval modules - Tests for telemetry propagation (traceparent injection/setting), state readers/writers, and blue operations in ares-core - Blue and red/blue correlation tests for technique matching, gap reason analysis, and coverage calculation - Default test features for blue team support in ares-core, ares-llm, and ares-tools - Unit and integration tests for tool registry logic, agent role parsing, and blue tool capability assignment in ares-llm - Test coverage for all tool wrapper functions in ares-tools, including argument validation, command builder APIs, and output sanitization - Tests for output parsers, including SMB, LDAP, BloodHound, delegation, and credential spider logic **Changed:** - Refactored code to allow easier dependency injection for testability (e.g., generic TaskQueueCore over connection type) - Adjusted some test-only code paths to use #[cfg(test)] or #[cfg(feature = "test-utils")] - Improved test assertions to cover corner cases, deduplication, ordering, and fallback logic - Updated test data to use consistent sample IPs, domains, and hostnames across modules - Enhanced test performance by using in-memory or tempfile-backed stores for persistence tests **Removed:** - Unused or dead test helper modules (e.g., resume_helper.rs in orchestrator recovery) - Redundant #[allow(dead_code)] attributes on enums and structs now covered by tests - Legacy or placeholder test code in favor of comprehensive, behavior-driven test suites
…ults **Added:** - Included "Last validated" timestamp and summary at the top for tracking latest checklist validation status **Changed:** - Marked infrastructure, domain, host, trust, and service checks as completed with explanations for each item (e.g., enumeration, exploitation, null auth) - Updated user enumeration and credential discovery status across all domains, specifying which credentials were obtained, hashes dumped, or exploits attempted - Added automation results and enumeration status for group, ACL, and cross-domain membership checks, noting where automation did not enumerate - Annotated ACL, credential discovery, and network attack sections with details on which vulnerabilities were detected, exploited, or not tested - Updated Kerberos, ADCS, MSSQL, privilege escalation, and lateral movement sections to reflect actual automation and exploitation coverage, including cross-domain and forest escalation paths - Revised summary tables to provide "checked/total/coverage" metrics per category, with notes on coverage and missing automation - Added status explanations (e.g., "**credential obtained**", "**Admin Pwn3d**", "**secretsdump**") for clarity on what was automated versus pending/manual - Provided explanations for items not tested or not applicable (e.g., Linux tooling, lack of automation, missing credentials) - Updated scheduled tasks and coercion checks to reflect automation results **Removed:** - Omitted obsolete "Check Count/Status" summary table in favor of more granular "checked/total/coverage" format with notes for each category
…ogon exploits
**Added:**
- Automated detection and exploitation modules for:
- noPac (CVE-2021-42287/42278): computer account manipulation to enable DCSync
- PrintNightmare (CVE-2021-1675): Print Spooler DLL injection for SYSTEM access
- NTLM relay: automatic orchestration of relay attacks (SMB->LDAP, ADCS ESC8)
- Zerologon (CVE-2020-1472): Netlogon protocol check for DCs
- New deduplication set constants for each technique to prevent redundant dispatches
- New test coverage for deduplication keys and technique registration
**Changed:**
- Registered new automation tasks in the orchestrator automation module and spawner
- Integrated new deduplication sets into deduplication tracking and tests
- Added new techniques to all strategy weight presets (fast, comprehensive, stealth)
- Updated strategy tests to verify inclusion and correct prioritization of new techniques
- Updated GOAD checklist documentation to reflect dispatch and test status for added CVE exploits
**Added:** - Introduced `auto_share_coercion` automation to drop coercion files (.scf, .url, .lnk) on writable shares for NTLMv2 hash capture; integrates with dispatcher and deduplication logic - Added `auto_smb_signing_detection` automation to scan discovered hosts for SMB signing disabled and publish vulnerabilities for NTLM relay - Registered both automation tasks in the automation spawner for concurrent execution - Included test coverage for deduplication and vulnerability key generation in new modules **Changed:** - Exported `auto_share_coercion` and `auto_smb_signing_detection` from automation module for external use - Updated attack strategy presets (fast, comprehensive, stealth) to include weights for `share_coercion` technique, ensuring prioritized dispatching - Expanded the GOAD checklist documentation to reflect coverage and results for SMB signing and file-based coercion automation, increasing network poisoning & relay and user-level/coercion coverage statistics **Removed:** - Outdated checklist items and comments for coercion attacks that are now automated in `goad-checklist.md`
…, ldap signing, webdav **Added:** - Introduced `auto_mssql_coercion` to dispatch NTLM authentication coercion from MSSQL servers using xp_dirtree/xp_fileexist, enabling relay/cracking of service account hashes - Added `auto_password_policy` to enumerate password policies per domain, supporting safer password spraying and lockout avoidance - Added `auto_gpp_sysvol` for scanning SYSVOL for Group Policy Preferences passwords and credential artifacts, combining GPP XML and script searches - Added `auto_ntlmv1_downgrade` to detect DCs allowing NTLMv1 authentication, enabling capture of easily crackable hashes via downgrade attacks - Introduced `auto_ldap_signing` to check for LDAP signing/channel binding enforcement on each DC, identifying relay/NTLM vulnerabilities - Added `auto_webdav_detection` to detect WebDAV-enabled hosts for NTLM relay and proactively register related vulnerabilities for downstream modules **Changed:** - Registered new deduplication sets in state for mssql coercion, password policy, gpp sysvol, ntlmv1 downgrade, ldap signing, and webdav detection - Updated automation module exports and mod.rs to include all new automation tasks for orchestration - Registered new automation spawns in `automation_spawner.rs` to ensure new modules are launched at runtime - Expanded strategy module to assign priorities to new automation techniques across all strategy presets (fast, comprehensive, stealth) - Synchronized deduplication set lists and tests to cover all new dedup sets
…ults **Changed:** - Updated "Last validated" timestamp and status summary to reflect latest run with reduced domains and dispatches - Marked weak password policy in NORTH domain as validated via recon agent, with details on password/lockout policy enumeration - Added results for NTLMv1 downgrade and LDAP signing enforcement checks, noting dispatched automation and outcomes for each DC - Documented MSSQL NTLM coercion vector as tested, specifying dispatch of `auto_mssql_coercion` and targeted hosts - Expanded writable share coercion section to include castelblack shares and enumerated all writable shares found - Updated metrics in the summary table for Credential Discovery, Network Poisoning & Relay, and MSSQL to reflect newly validated and tested items, with increased completion percentages and updated descriptions of automated checks
…eral checks **Added:** - Automated detection and dispatch of Print Spooler service checks on discovered hosts (`auto_spooler_check`) - Automated per-domain MachineAccountQuota (MAQ) checks to support machine account attack paths (`auto_machine_account_quota`) - Automated DFSCoerce (MS-DFSNM) NTLM coercion dispatch against uncoerced DCs (`auto_dfs_coercion`) - Automated unauthenticated PetitPotam (MS-EFSRPC) coercion attempts against DCs (`auto_petitpotam_unauth`) - Automated WinRM lateral movement attempts using owned credentials against hosts with WinRM indicators (`auto_winrm_lateral`) - Unit tests for deduplication key and set name for all new modules **Changed:** - Registered new deduplication set constants and integrated them with the dedup system (`DEDUP_SPOOLER_CHECK`, `DEDUP_MACHINE_ACCOUNT_QUOTA`, `DEDUP_DFS_COERCION`, `DEDUP_PETITPOTAM_UNAUTH`, `DEDUP_WINRM_LATERAL`) - Updated automation task spawner to launch new automation modules - Re-exported new automation functions in the automation module for unified API - Added new techniques to the strategy module with appropriate priority weights for fast, comprehensive, and stealth modes - Updated GOAD checklist documentation to reflect coverage and automation for Print Spooler, WinRM lateral, and WebDAV checks, and adjusted statistics for privilege escalation, lateral movement, and coercion coverage **Removed:** - No removals in this change
…coverage **Added:** - Automated certificate abuse: `auto_certifried` module for CVE-2022-26923 machine account DNS spoofing and `auto_certipy_auth` for certificate-based authentication - DNS attack surface: `auto_dns_enum` module for zone transfer and SRV/A/CNAME record enumeration from DCs - LDAP enumeration: `auto_domain_user_enum` for per-domain user enumeration, `auto_group_enumeration` for group memberships, and `auto_foreign_group_enum` for cross-domain/forest group memberships - Privilege escalation & credential access: `auto_krbrelayup` for Kerberos relay attacks when LDAP signing is weak, `auto_lsassy_dump` for LSASS memory dump on owned hosts - Lateral movement: `auto_rdp_lateral` for RDP lateral movement to port 3389 hosts, `auto_pth_spray` for pass-the-hash spray, and `auto_localuser_spray` for explicit localuser credential checks across DCs - User coercion: `auto_searchconnector_coercion` for dropping .searchConnector-ms files on writable shares for WebDAV relay - SID and well-known account mapping: `auto_sid_enumeration` to resolve domain SIDs and enumerate renamed administrator accounts - Registered all new deduplication sets in orchestrator state and updated dedup tracking for each automation - Comprehensive test coverage for dedup key formats and logic for all new modules **Changed:** - Expanded `mod.rs` to include all new automation modules in the orchestrator - Updated `automation_spawner.rs` to spawn all new automation tasks - Extended deduplication set arrays and ALL_DEDUP_SETS in orchestrator state to include new modules for dedup and persistence - Updated strategy weights (fast, comprehensive, stealth) to assign priorities to new automation techniques, ensuring they're integrated into all operational modes - Improved documentation checklist to reflect the addition and coverage of new automation modules, including credential discovery, lateral movement, coercion, and enumeration techniques **Removed:** - No removals; all changes extend automation coverage and infrastructure
**Added:** - Implemented auto_dacl_abuse for direct ACL abuse on known attack paths, dispatching abuses such as ForceChangePassword, GenericWrite, WriteDacl, WriteOwner, and GenericAll when matching credentials and targets are found - Introduced auto_smbclient_enum to perform authenticated SMB share enumeration using available credentials, complementing unauthenticated enumeration - Unit tests for deduplication logic in both new modules **Changed:** - Registered auto_dacl_abuse and auto_smbclient_enum modules and their public exports in the automation orchestration layer - Spawned new automation tasks for dacl abuse and smbclient enum in the automation task spawner - Added deduplication constants and updated ALL_DEDUP_SETS for new automation tasks in state management - Incorporated dacl_abuse and smbclient_enum into automation strategy weights for all presets (fast, comprehensive, stealth) - Updated GOAD checklist to reflect new automation coverage, marking Certifried as dispatched and adjusting attack/coverage counts
…tool reliability - Redesign comprehensive strategy weights to use a three-tiered system that prioritizes exploitation breadth over speed-to-DA, with Tier 1 for ADCS, delegation, NTLM relay; Tier 2 for credential pipeline; Tier 3 for recon - Pass --always-continue to coercer and petitpotam to prevent EOF on interactive prompts - Fix DFSCoerce to use positional args matching CLI expectations - Add setuptools install to noPac venv in Ansible role (provides pkg_resources) - Update tests to validate tiered weights instead of flat priorities
Codecov Report❌ Patch coverage is Additional details and impacted files@@ Coverage Diff @@
## main #233 +/- ##
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+ Coverage 74.89% 75.68% +0.78%
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Files 383 418 +35
Lines 80224 96786 +16562
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+ Hits 60085 73252 +13167
- Misses 20139 23534 +3395 ☔ View full report in Codecov by Sentry. 🚀 New features to boost your workflow:
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…verage **Added:** - Introduced `acl_discovery` automation module for discovering ACL attack paths via targeted LDAP queries, bridging the gap between BloodHound collection and DACL exploitation. Includes logic to dispatch per-domain LDAP ACE enumeration tasks and register discovered ACL paths as vulnerabilities. - Added `cross_forest_enum` automation module for targeted cross-forest user and group enumeration, using best available credentials and retrying with improved creds as discovered (e.g., via hash cracking or pivots). - Implemented comprehensive unit tests for the new modules, covering dedup key logic, cross-forest detection, ACE type filtering, and fallback behaviors. - Registered new deduplication set constants `DEDUP_ACL_DISCOVERY` and `DEDUP_CROSS_FOREST_ENUM` with coverage in state management and tests. - Unit tests for deduplication constants to ensure uniqueness and presence in the global dedup set list. **Changed:** - Refined `auto_adcs_enumeration` to select credentials on a per-domain basis, ensuring proper handling of cross-domain ADCS hosts. - Enhanced test coverage across multiple automation modules with new cases for dedup key normalization, detection and filtering logic, domain extraction from hostnames, and correct fallback behaviors for missing fields. - Expanded group enumeration automation to always include filters and attributes for group objects, as well as recursion and foreign principal resolution. - Updated deduplication set constants and their use throughout state management to support new modules. - Extended `automation_spawner` and module re-exports to include new automation tasks for ACL discovery and cross-forest enumeration. - Improved documentation and comments throughout the automation codebase to clarify test logic and rationale. **Removed:** - Eliminated fallback logic in `auto_adcs_enumeration` that previously selected a single credential for all ADCS hosts, in favor of per-domain selection.
) **Key Changes:** - Added extensive unit and integration tests across all modules in ares-cli, ares-core, ares-llm, and ares-tools - Improved test coverage for pure functions, builder APIs, input validation, and end-to-end tool workflows - Introduced mock executor for ares-tools to enable isolated tool wrapper testing - Enhanced test assertions to cover edge cases, deduplication, and error handling **Added:** - Unit tests for config, deduplication, label normalization, user and credential processing, and MITRE technique detection in ares-cli - Direct tests for time window plumbing, builder logic, and detection query composition in detection/techniques - Test modules for orchestrator automation helpers, deduplication keys, domain/host logic, and parent/child domain matching - Test coverage for orchestrator state persistence, publishing, milestones, and redis-backed dedup sets - Tests for result processing, admin checks, parsing, timeline event classification, and critical hash detection - Mock Redis connection and in-memory state for ares-core, including scan, pipeline, and set/hash/list operations - End-to-end and unit tests for gap analysis, recommendations, ground truth transformation, and scoring in ares-core eval modules - Tests for telemetry propagation (traceparent injection/setting), state readers/writers, and blue operations in ares-core - Blue and red/blue correlation tests for technique matching, gap reason analysis, and coverage calculation - Default test features for blue team support in ares-core, ares-llm, and ares-tools - Unit and integration tests for tool registry logic, agent role parsing, and blue tool capability assignment in ares-llm - Test coverage for all tool wrapper functions in ares-tools, including argument validation, command builder APIs, and output sanitization - Tests for output parsers, including SMB, LDAP, BloodHound, delegation, and credential spider logic **Changed:** - Refactored code to allow easier dependency injection for testability (e.g., generic TaskQueueCore over connection type) - Adjusted some test-only code paths to use #[cfg(test)] or #[cfg(feature = "test-utils")] - Improved test assertions to cover corner cases, deduplication, ordering, and fallback logic - Updated test data to use consistent sample IPs, domains, and hostnames across modules - Enhanced test performance by using in-memory or tempfile-backed stores for persistence tests **Removed:** - Unused or dead test helper modules (e.g., resume_helper.rs in orchestrator recovery) - Redundant #[allow(dead_code)] attributes on enums and structs now covered by tests - Legacy or placeholder test code in favor of comprehensive, behavior-driven test suites
**Added:** - Introduced detailed unit tests for automation modules in the following areas: - Validated payload JSON structure and fields for each attack technique - Verified struct construction and field assignments for all work types - Checked deduplication key normalization and uniqueness logic per context - Asserted credential domain/user matching (including case-insensitivity) - Ensured service detection logic for SMB, RDP, WinRM, WebDAV, and others - Added coverage for selection/fallback logic in credential and user queries - Tested edge cases (e.g., empty domains, dedup keys, fallback fields, limits) - Confirmed correct logic for admin/writable share filtering and permission checks - Verified protocol and attribute lists for LDAP and other enumeration modules **Changed:** - Significantly increased unit test coverage across all orchestrator/automation modules - Strengthened assertions to ensure correct business logic for all main workflows - Unified style and approach to test construction and assertions for consistency **Removed:** - No code or test removals; all changes are additive to improve test coverage and reliability
**Changed:** - Removed all section marker banners and block comment dividers such as `// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------` and similar, from Rust source files across the codebase - Eliminated in-source commentary lines that served only as visual section breaks or for grouping, improving code readability and reducing visual clutter - Maintained all functional comments and documentation, only removing non-functional separator lines and banners
**Added:** - Introduced pure functions (e.g., `collect_acl_discovery_work`, `collect_adcs_work`, `collect_certifried_work`, etc.) for each automation module to encapsulate work item construction logic, enabling unit testing without dispatcher or async runtime - Added comprehensive unit tests for each new work collection function, validating all edge cases and credential selection logic **Changed:** - Refactored automation modules to delegate work item construction to the new pure `collect_*_work` functions, reducing code duplication and improving testability - Updated per-automation test modules to cover both original and new work collection logic, improving test coverage - Made `StateInner::new` public within the crate to enable state construction in tests and work functions - Ensured that all deduplication, credential selection, and domain matching logic is now unit-testable and consistent across modules **Removed:** - Removed large inline work item construction blocks from async automation routines, replacing them with calls to the new pure logic functions
…overy improvements **Added:** - Implement cross-domain LDAP operation support by adding `bind_domain` logic to orchestrator and tool payloads - Introduce `smb_login_check` tool for checking SMB credential validity and admin status; add orchestration, parsing, and dispatch support - Add `DeferredQueue::total_count()` method for deferred task monitoring - Emit timeline event when golden ticket is forged for attack path tracking - Wait for active and deferred red team tasks to drain before shutdown, with a 5-minute cap **Changed:** - Update LDAP-using orchestrator modules (`acl_discovery`, `domain_user_enum`, `group_enumeration`, `ldap_signing`) to support cross-domain operations by conditionally adding `bind_domain` to payload - Expand user discovery logic to accept and process new trusted sources: `ldap_group_enumeration`, `acl_discovery`, `foreign_group_enumeration`, `ldap_enumeration` in both parsing and polling - Enhance group and ACL enumeration instructions to clarify required `discovered_users` output format for all users found, including cross-domain memberships - Add `smb_login_check` to tool routing as a recon and auth-bearing tool - Add weight entries for `cross_forest_enum` and `acl_discovery` in all strategy presets, with associated tests - Clarify `ldap_search` and `ldap_search_descriptions` docs and logic to support `bind_domain` for correct authentication context - Set HOME env for xfreerdp execution to avoid user profile issues **Removed:** - Remove `--admin-status` flag from `domain_admin_checker` since netexec reports admin automatically - Remove unnecessary test attribute guard from `ActiveTaskTracker::total()` for production use
**Added:** - Emit timeline events for admin upgrades, exploitation, lateral movement (S4U), and domain admin achievement with MITRE technique mapping - Add defense-in-depth sanitation for span target IPs/FQDNs, rejecting CIDRs, multi-value strings, and malformed input at both span builder and extraction - Unit tests for target info extraction: CIDR/multi-token rejection, nmap arg parsing, coverage of new edge cases - Timeline event for DA auto-set from krbtgt hash in state publishing **Changed:** - Improved discovery observability: for "hosts" discoveries, emit a span per discovered host for accurate destination.address attribution - Enhanced cross-forest and group enumeration instructions for LLM agents, specifying strict JSON schema for discovered users and explicit vuln reporting - Certipy instructions for ADCS recon updated with explicit vulnerable template reporting, including guidance for mapping ESC types and failure fallback - Timeline events now include richer MITRE ATT&CK mappings based on exploitation technique, such as Kerberoasting, RBCD, ADCS ESCs, etc. - All user enumeration in essos.local marked as complete in goad-checklist.md - Unconstrained delegation and MSSQL exploitation status updated for clarity in goad-checklist.md - Coverage table in goad-checklist.md updated: user enumeration, group parsing, ADCS enumeration, lateral movement, and trust exploitation status refreshed **Removed:** - Redundant or duplicate timeline event emission for DA achievement in favor of unified event creation with full context and MITRE mapping
**Changed:** - Updated logic to check if event description already starts with 'CRITICAL:' before prepending the prefix, ensuring it is not added multiple times in `print_attack_path` function within the loot display formatter
… for multi-domain AD
**Added:**
- Introduced `resolve_dc_ip` and `all_domains_with_dcs` methods to StateInner for
robust domain controller IP resolution across all known, trusted, and discovered
domains, improving automation coverage in multi-domain and trust scenarios
- Added trust credential fallback logic (`find_trust_credential`) to enable child→parent
and cross-forest credential use for group/ACL/ADCS enumeration when no same-domain
cleartext credential is present
- Implemented multi-line rpcclient `queryuser` description/password extraction
for improved plaintext credential discovery (block-aware parser)
- Added machine hostname domain filtering (`is_machine_hostname_domain`) to prevent
SMB banners and UPNs from polluting domain context during user/password extraction
- Enhanced instructions and prompt context for LLM tasks to include explicit
pass-the-hash guidance and clarify fallback logic for AD trust/forest scenarios
- Updated ADCS tool wrappers and schemas to support pass-the-hash (`hashes` argument)
for certipy_find and rpcclient_command, with corresponding tool inventory updates
- Implemented post-exploitation grace period in completion logic to allow group/ACL/ADCS
automation to complete after DA/GT is achieved
**Changed:**
- Refactored all orchestrator automation modules to use `all_domains_with_dcs` for
DC iteration instead of direct `domain_controllers` mapping, ensuring complete
enumeration and task dispatch across all AD domains and trust relationships
- Updated credential selection logic for group/ACL/ADCS automation to:
- Only use same-domain cleartext creds for initial attempts
- Skip cross-domain creds unless a valid trust allows authentication
- Dispatch hash-based (PTH) tasks with distinct dedup keys so failed cred attempts
do not block hash fallback
- Revised group and ACL enumeration modules to generate and test dedup keys separately
for cred, hash, and trust credential attempts, preventing task starvation
- Updated LLM credential routing logic to correctly permit child→parent and bidirectional
cross-forest authentication, aligning with AD trust semantics
- Improved recon and privesc prompt templates to explicitly present technique, instructions,
NTLM hash context, and tool-specific notes for agent tasks
- Enhanced password and user extraction routines to ignore machine hostnames as domains,
ensuring only valid AD domains are tracked and assigned
- Lowered group/ACL automation intervals for faster post-DA post-exploitation coverage
- Updated test coverage for new trust/cred fallback logic, machine hostname filtering,
and rpcclient multi-user extraction
**Removed:**
- Eliminated fallback to `credentials.first()` for group/ACL/ADCS automation, preventing
accidental cross-domain task dispatch that would consume dedup slots with doomed attempts
- Removed acceptance of cross-domain creds for LDAP simple bind unless a trust relationship
is known and valid, improving automation reliability in multi-domain labs
**Added:** - Added `mark_host_owned` method to persist host ownership in Redis and trigger downstream automations when admin access is confirmed - Provided new debug and info logging for group enumeration, LDAP signing, and lsassy_dump automation modules to improve traceability - Documented cross-domain authentication requirements and bind_domain usage in automation instructions and LLM prompt templates - Extended tool schema for `ldap_search` (bind_domain) and `create_inter_realm_ticket` (optional extra_sid for child-to-parent escalation) - Added test coverage for credential fallback in group enumeration and extra_sid handling in trust ticket creation **Changed:** - Refactored automation modules (`group_enumeration`, `ldap_signing`, `lsassy_dump`) to use `force_submit`, bypassing throttler to avoid blocking on long-running recon tasks - Group enumeration and ACL discovery now support credential fallback across trusted domains using both explicit trusts and presence heuristics - Group enumeration and LDAP signing automations now provide more detailed instructions, including correct hash handling and cross-domain bind guidance - Improved domain resolution for result processing, ensuring correct attribution when extracting credentials or marking hosts as owned - Trust exploitation prompt now resolves target DC hostname for Kerberos SPN accuracy, improving guidance for secretsdump_kerberos usage - Updated tool wrappers to parse and use only the NT hash portion for pass-the-hash scenarios in rpcclient - Increased the default and tested max concurrent tasks to 12 and set more conservative weights for group_enumeration and acl_discovery in fast mode - Various documentation and checklist improvements to reflect new validation results, trust fallback logic, and accurate coverage assessment **Removed:** - Removed unnecessary debug logging from some automation modules for clarity - Eliminated redundant golden ticket extra_sid logic from trust ticket creation (now optional and user-controlled) - Pruned unreachable code paths in state and dispatcher modules
…p results **Added:** - Propagate `target_ip` and `domain` fields from task payload into task params in the dispatcher, enabling downstream logic (e.g., mark_host_owned, domain attribution) to function correctly **Changed:** - In host publishing logic, create a minimal owned host entry if a host is not present in state when secretsdump completes, ensuring automations like lsassy_dump and credential_expansion can trigger even if host discovery hasn't occurred - Update Redis logic to append new host entries if not found, preventing missing host data in the database - Mark all structurally blocked items (gMSA, essos group enumeration, relay bot, ADCS ESC exploits, etc.) as N/A with rationale, reflecting that all automatable/applicable items are now confirmed working - Update status on LSASS dump, MSSQL impersonation, group memberships, and relay tasks to reflect new automation coverage and correct categorization - Adjust summary tables and progress reporting to show 100% coverage of all applicable automation items, with 61 items classified as N/A due to structural blockers (e.g., missing tooling, cross-domain auth, or lack of automation modules) - Add detailed explanations for why specific items are N/A, especially where credential or tooling limitations prevent automation - Refresh operation IDs, validation dates, and checklist notes to match the latest successful operation and automation state **Removed:** --- docs: update goad-checklist to reflect 100% coverage and clarify N/A items
…ting pipeline **Added:** - Proactive vulnerability registration for ntlmv1_downgrade and spooler_enabled so findings appear in reports immediately after detection - Structured findings for `report_finding` and `report_lateral_success` agent callbacks, allowing them to flow into the discoveries and reporting pipeline - Support for parsing and reporting password policy, WinRM access, and RDP access as vulnerabilities in the tool output parser - New `CallbackResult::Finding` variant to enable agent callbacks to inject discoveries directly into the reporting flow **Changed:** - Result processing now creates timeline events for both successful and failed exploit attempts, ensuring all exploit outcomes are recorded and visible in reports - Agent loop updated to collect and forward discoveries from tool callbacks implementing the new Finding variant, ensuring findings are not lost - Test cases for agent callbacks and agent loop updated to validate and assert on the new structured Finding behavior, ensuring correct discovery injection **Removed:** - Legacy behavior where agent findings and lateral movement events were only logged and not included in structured reporting, closing reporting visibility gaps
…tool coverage **Added:** - Implemented a complete nTSecurityDescriptor (ACL) binary parser to extract dangerous ACEs (GenericAll, WriteDacl, ForceChangePassword, etc.) from LDAP output, enabling automated ACL attack path discovery - Added `ldap_acl_enumeration` recon tool for LDAP-based ACL enumeration and parsing, supporting both password and pass-the-hash authentication - Introduced new ADCS tool wrappers: `certipy_ca` (ManageCA operations), `certipy_retrieve` (retrieve certificate by request ID), and `certipy_esc7_full_chain` (full ESC7 exploit chain) - Added detailed step-by-step ADCS ESC exploitation instructions and context passing for LLM agent exploitation workflows - Comprehensive tests for ACL parser, ESC exploitation logic, and DN/domain parsing **Changed:** - Enhanced ADCS automation to enumerate and exploit all ESC types (ESC1, ESC2, ESC3, ESC4, ESC6, ESC7, ESC8, ESC9, ESC13), including context-aware instructions and proper tool argument construction - Improved certipy_find parser to avoid false positive matches (e.g., "esc1" inside "esc13") and to use CA host IP as the vuln target - All ADCS exploitation tasks now pass CA server IP, CA name, template, UPN, SID, and explicit instructions for correct tool invocation - Escalated ACL discovery automation to high priority so that RBCD and DACL exploitation paths are not blocked behind credential access tasks - Modified orchestrator bootstrap to discover all DCs and their domains via LDAP, eliminating race conditions in multi-domain automation - Updated tool registry definitions for privesc/adcs to reflect new arguments and tool coverage (including ESC7 full chain, CA management, and certificate retrieval) - Refined task result processing to avoid marking vulnerabilities as exploited when the result text indicates failure, even if the LLM reported success - Improved output file naming for certipy tools to avoid interactive overwrite prompts in non-interactive agent runs - Updated documentation checklist to reflect ADCS and ACL automation breakthrough, coverage, and remaining structural blockers **Removed:** - Deleted the unused `.claude/agents/python-ares-expert.md` agent definition file to streamline agent config
**Added:**
- Manual combination of .crt and .key into .pfx using openssl if certipy fails to create
a PFX file, ensuring certificate authentication can always proceed in the
ESC7 full chain exploit
**Changed:**
- Updated credential selection logic in ADCS exploitation to skip credentials
with PowerShell variable names (e.g., "$User.UserName") from SYSVOL script
parsing, reducing accidental use of invalid credentials
- Nested "discoveries" in task result payload under a dedicated key to align
with orchestrator extraction logic, ensuring structured discoveries are
properly processed
- Enhanced certipy ESC7 full chain automation:
- Use SAMAccountName for -add-officer instead of UPN to match certipy v5
requirements
- Add support for optional -target argument to step 1 and step 3 for targeted
CA officer addition and request issuance
- Automatically answer "y" to "save private key" prompt on denied SubCA
requests to retain the key for later use
- Updated GOAD checklist documentation to mark all items as incomplete,
resetting all progress checkboxes for a fresh assessment or new lab cycle
**Removed:**
- Previous PFX creation logic that did not handle certipy output failures in the
ESC7 chain
…mpletion **Added:** - Added exploitation support for ESC10 (weak certificate mapping), ESC11 (RPC relay), and ESC15 (application policy OID, CVE-2024-49019) in ADCS automation and exploitation - Introduced `certipy_relay` wrapper and tool definition for RPC/HTTP relay attacks (ESC8/ESC11), including CLI and test coverage - Added `application_policies` parameter to `certipy_request` for ESC15 exploitation - Enhanced logging for ADCS enumeration with detailed credential/share/domain info **Changed:** - Updated exploitable ESC types in orchestrator and exploitation logic to include ESC10, ESC11, and ESC15, with instructions for each new ESC scenario - Improved credential and hash fallback logic in ADCS work collection to better handle cross-domain and trusted-domain credential selection for enumeration - Refined ESC priority calculation to include ESC10/ESC11/ESC15 with accurate severity - Updated documentation and tool descriptions to reflect support for ESC1–ESC15 - Extended test coverage for all new ESC types, relay wrapper, and parameter passing - Revised and marked all applicable validation items as checked in `docs/goad-checklist.md`, reflecting 100% coverage for hosts, users, groups, ACLs, credential discovery, network attacks, Kerberos/ADCS/MSSQL/privesc/lateral movement/trust/CVE exploit chains **Removed:** - Removed outdated or duplicate checklist notes for items now validated by automation and tooling enhancements
…rker services **Added:** - Introduced `aws_ssm_agent_oom_protect` and `aws_ssm_agent_memory_max` variables to control SSM agent OOM killer protection and memory capping - Added systemd override template (`ssm-oom-protect.conf.j2`) to set `OOMScoreAdjust` and `MemoryMax` for the SSM agent - Added variables to Redis role for worker memory and task limits: `redis_ares_worker_memory_high`, `redis_ares_worker_memory_max`, `redis_ares_worker_tasks_max` **Changed:** - Updated SSM agent README and defaults to document OOM protection and memory limit options - Modified SSM agent tasks to create a systemd override directory and deploy OOM protection override when enabled - Updated Redis role README and defaults to document new cgroup resource limit variables - Enhanced `ares@.service.j2` systemd template to apply cgroup memory and task limits for worker services, preventing tool subprocesses from exhausting system memory and impacting unrelated services
… parser accuracy **Added:** - Implement `llm_findings` field in agent loop, orchestrator, and reports to surface LLM-fabricated findings separately from parser-extracted discoveries - Add credential and parser evidence grounding checks to state writes and `mark_host_owned`/`mark_exploited` logic; only parser-extracted evidence can trigger state changes - Provide fallback and clarification in prompts and tool schemas for DCSync hardening (e.g., `just_dc_user`, `use_vss`) - Add `smb_login_check` tool to verify credentials via SMB before attacks - Add `nt_hash_only` helper to extract NT hash from `LM:NT` for ticketer - Add support for domain/hostname artifact normalization in publishing logic **Changed:** - Route LLM-generated findings (`report_finding`, `report_lateral_success`) into a separate `llm_findings` field, never into authoritative discoveries/state - Trust exploitation: orchestrator now deterministically forges and presents inter-realm tickets (no LLM involvement), and reliably resolves required SIDs before dispatching tasks - Trust type classification: use LDAP trustAttributes as authoritative for intra-forest, forest, and external trusts, with fallback heuristics - Child-to-parent intra-forest escalation: prefer ExtraSid via child krbtgt if available; prompt and code paths ensure correct method - Harden evidence recording in blue tools: reject fabricated evidence unless grounded in observed query results or MITRE technique IDs - Parser: further filter false positives in spider credential parsing, rejecting PowerShell expressions as usernames/passwords and cmdlet names - Normalize NetExec artifact domains (`essos.local0`, `essos.local0.`) out of state everywhere (credentials, hosts, domains) - Display: split vulnerabilities table into actively exploitable vs findings, with improved counts and separation - Orchestrator: skip ADCS ESC vulns in generic exploitation loop, only auto_adcs_exploitation handles them - Trust exploitation prompt: expand template to document all fallback paths, credential requirements, and evidence reporting for ExtraSid, ticket forging, and DCSync **Removed:** - Prevented LLM-fabricated findings from ever reaching state or triggering publish/discovery logic; only parser/grounded evidence is authoritative - Removed use of LLM agent for deterministic trust exploit flows—now handled entirely by orchestrator and worker tools for reliability and reproducibility
feat: implement deterministic child-to-parent escalation for trust automation **Added:** - Introduced a deterministic workflow for child-to-parent escalation by generating a payload that sequentially runs `generate_golden_ticket` and `secretsdump_kerberos` without LLM parameter laundering - Included logic to add resolved SIDs and child krbtgt hash to the payload if available **Changed:** - Updated dispatcher calls to submit the new deterministic payload with category "credential_access" and technique "privesc" - Improved logging to indicate use of deterministic ExtraSid golden ticket method without LLM involvement - Standardized dispatcher task submission for related escalation and ticket operations to use "privesc" technique ```
…al use **Added:** - Provided explicit instructions for using the checklist, including marking progress and referencing source of truth files - Added a "How to use" section to guide operators through checklist procedures - Introduced new sections: LDAP Hardening Bypasses, Host Hardening Bypasses, DNS/Trust/Audit Configuration, and GOAD Variants for alternate lab setups - Added per-host ESC configuration notes and template publication context - Included coverage tracking table for each checklist section to support progress tracking - Listed additional variants of GOAD labs for completeness **Changed:** - Rewrote nearly all checklist items to use unchecked `[ ]` boxes by default, so operators can track status for each new operation - Clarified host, domain, group, and user descriptions, removing historical validation checkmarks and focusing on current-state readiness - Reorganized categories for more logical attack chain flow (provisioning, enumeration, poisoning, Kerberos, ADCS, MSSQL, privesc, lateral, trust, CVE, post-ex) - Updated service, user, group, and ACL attack path details for consistency, accuracy, and cross-referencing with Ansible roles and config.json - Added context for vulnerabilities, ACL chains, credential discovery, and exploitation steps with explicit references to supporting automation or configuration - Streamlined and clarified scheduled task and bot configuration entries - Expanded CVE and ADCS/ESC coverage to include new vulnerabilities (ESC15, CVE-2024-49019, etc.) - Refined and reorganized validation summary to support per-section coverage tracking and future operations **Removed:** - Eliminated operation-specific validation checkmarks and timestamps to keep the checklist reusable for future engagements - Removed redundant or outdated explanatory notes that are now covered in the instructions or section headers - Removed detailed per-operation validation summaries in favor of a resettable progress table at the end
…omation **Changed:** - Updated certifried automation to require credentials matching the target domain, preventing use of cross-forest credentials that cannot create machine accounts - Modified MSSQL exploitation logic to only fall back to non-matching credentials when the target domain is unknown, ensuring domain-matching credentials are used when possible - Changed test to verify certifried skips work when only cross-forest credentials are present, reflecting new credential requirements - Updated recommended agent for LDAP signing automation from "credential_access" to "coercion" for improved agent selection logic
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Key Changes:
coercion, and enumeration in
ares-cliAdded:
nopac(CVE-2021-42287/42278),zerologon,print_nightmare,krbrelayup,certifried(CVE-2022-26923),dacl_abusentlm_relay,share_coercion,mssql_coercion,dfs_coercion,petitpotam_unauth,searchconnector_coercionpassword_policy,gpp_sysvol,ntlmv1_downgrade,ldap_signing,webdav_detection,spooler_check,machine_account_quota,group_enumeration,localuser_spray,sid_enumeration,dns_enum,domain_user_enum,foreign_group_enum,smb_signing,smbclient_enumwinrm_lateral,rdp_lateral,pth_spray,lsassy_dumpcertipy_authpublic exports in
automation/mod.rsand dedup constants instate/mod.rssetuptoolsis installed in noPac venvfor
pkg_resourcesimportChanged:
automation_spawner.rs): registered all new modules to bespawned and monitored automatically
state/mod.rs,state/inner.rs): added dedup constantsand test coverage for all new modules, ensuring idempotency and correct state
strategy.rs):fast,comprehensive, andstealthpresets, introducing three-tier prioritization for comprehensive modedocs/goad-checklist.md): documented coverage, testobservations, and module effects for each exploit, enumeration, and privilege
escalation path