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relaying-ntlm-for-adcs-esc8

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Uses Impacket's ntlmrelayx.py with a coercion tool (PetitPotam, Coercer, printerbug) to relay NTLM authentication from a coerced domain controller into the AD CS HTTP web-enrollment endpoint (ESC8), obtaining a DC certificate usable via Certipy for PKINIT/DCSync. Use during internal AD penetration tests or purple-team exercises when AD CS Web Enrollment lacks Extended Protection for Authentication.

skills/relaying-ntlm-for-adcs-esc8/SKILL.md

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# Relaying NTLM for ADCS ESC8

> **Legal Notice:** This skill is for authorized penetration testing, red-team engagements, and educational purposes only. Coercing authentication and relaying credentials against systems you do not own or lack explicit written authorization to test is illegal. Operate strictly within a signed rules-of-engagement; ESC8 coercion can affect production domain controllers.

## Overview

ESC8 is one of the Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) escalation paths catalogued by SpecterOps in "Certified Pre-Owned." It abuses the AD CS **HTTP web-enrollment endpoint** (`/certsrv/`), which by default supports NTLM authentication and, critically, does **not** enforce HTTPS channel binding or Extended Protection for Authentication (EPA). Because NTLM over HTTP on that endpoint is unprotected, an attacker can **coerce** a privileged machine account (typically a domain controller) into authenticating to an attacker-controlled host, then **relay** that NTLM authentication to the CA's web-enrollment page and request a certificate **as the coerced machine**.

When the relayed victim is a domain controller, the attacker obtains a certificate for the DC's machine account (`DC01$`). That certificate can then be used for Kerberos PKINIT to request a TGT as the DC, recover the DC's NT hash, and ultimately perform DCSync — a full domain compromise. This maps to MITRE ATT&CK **T1557.001 (Adversary-in-the-Middle: LLMNR/NBT-NS Poisoning and SMB Relay)**, extended here to NTLM relay against an HTTP enrollment service.

The standard toolchain is **Impacket's `ntlmrelayx.py`** (the relay engine, with `--adcs` mode), a coercion tool (**PetitPotam**, **Coercer**, **printerbug.py/dementor**), and **Certipy** for enumeration and for turning the captured certificate into a TGT / NT hash.

## When to Use

- During an internal AD penetration test where AD CS with the HTTP Web Enrollment role is present and EPA is not enforced.