Threat Research

SyncJacking: Hard Matching Vulnerability Enables Entra ID Account Takeover

SyncJacking: Hard Matching Vulnerability Enables Entra ID Account Takeover

  • Tomer Nahum

This post describes an abuse of hard matching synchronization in Entra Connect that can lead to Entra ID account takeover. These findings build on the research that Semperis published in August, which described abuse of soft matching (also known as SMTP matching). This SyncJacking vulnerability means that an attacker with…

Identity Attack Watch: October 2022

Identity Attack Watch: October 2022

  • Semperis Research Team

Cyberattacks targeting Active Directory are on the upswing, putting pressure on AD, identity, and security teams to monitor the constantly shifting AD-focused threat landscape. To help IT pros better understand and guard against attacks involving AD, the Semperis Research Team offers this monthly roundup of recent cyberattacks that used AD…

SYSVOL: Preventing a Horror Story

SYSVOL: Preventing a Horror Story

  • Tammy Mindel

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and an excellent time to bust the ghosts of configurations past. One of the actions that the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA) recommend taking is “Update your software.” A perfect place to start: Rid your domains of the outdated…

The Growing Threat of Ransomware as a Service

The Growing Threat of Ransomware as a Service

  • Sean Deuby | Principal Technologist

Ransomware attacks have reportedly declined this year. But don’t start celebrating just yet. “Gang models are evolving,” notes my colleague, Alexandra (Alix) Weaver, Semperis Solutions Architect. “I caution everyone: Do not let your guard down.” Part of the changing trend, Alix says, might be attributed to an increase in the…

Identity Attack Watch: September 2022

Identity Attack Watch: September 2022

  • Semperis Research Team

Cyberattacks targeting Active Directory are on the upswing, putting pressure on AD, identity, and security teams to monitor the constantly shifting AD-focused threat landscape. To help IT pros better understand and guard against attacks involving AD, the Semperis Research Team offers this monthly roundup of recent cyberattacks that used AD…

New Attack Paths? AS Requested Service Tickets

New Attack Paths? AS Requested Service Tickets

  • Charlie Clark

While helping Andrew Schwartz with his Kerberos FAST post (which has more information about what FAST is and how it works, so have a read), I noticed something interesting. AS-REQs for machine accounts are unarmored. Kerberos armoring is described by Microsoft: Kerberos armoring uses a ticket-granting ticket (TGT) for the…

Identity Attack Watch: August 2022

Identity Attack Watch: August 2022

  • Semperis Research Team

Cyberattacks targeting Active Directory are on the upswing, putting pressure on AD, identity, and security teams to monitor the constantly shifting AD-focused threat landscape. To help IT pros better understand and guard against attacks involving AD, the Semperis Research Team offers this monthly roundup of recent cyberattacks that used AD…

SMTP Matching Abuse in Azure AD

SMTP Matching Abuse in Azure AD

  • Sapir Federovsky and Tomer Nahum

In his TROOPERS19 talk (“I’m in your cloud … reading everyone’s email”), Dirk-jan Mollema discussed an issue he discovered that enabled the use of SMTP matching (also called soft matching) to synchronize Active Directory (AD) users to Azure AD, with the goal of hijacking unsynchronized accounts. Jan stated that Microsoft…