Post Windows Gather NTDS.DIT Location - Metasploit


This page contains detailed information about how to use the post/windows/gather/ntds_location metasploit module. For list of all metasploit modules, visit the Metasploit Module Library.

Table Of Contents
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Module Overview

Name: Post Windows Gather NTDS.DIT Location
Module: post/windows/gather/ntds_location
Source code: modules/post/windows/gather/ntds_location.rb
Disclosure date: -
Last modification time: 2021-10-06 13:43:31 +0000
Supported architecture(s): -
Supported platform(s): Windows
Target service / protocol: -
Target network port(s): -
List of CVEs: -

This module will find the location of the NTDS.DIT file (from the Registry), check that it exists, and display its location on the screen, which is useful if you wish to manually acquire the file using ntdsutil or vss.

Module Ranking and Traits

Module Ranking:

  • normal: The exploit is otherwise reliable, but depends on a specific version and can't (or doesn't) reliably autodetect. More information about ranking can be found here.

Basic Usage

There are two ways to execute this post module.

From the Meterpreter prompt

The first is by using the "run" command at the Meterpreter prompt. It allows you to run the post module against that specific session:

meterpreter > run post/windows/gather/ntds_location

From the msf prompt

The second is by using the "use" command at the msf prompt. You will have to figure out which session ID to set manually. To list all session IDs, you can use the "sessions" command.

msf > use post/windows/gather/ntds_location
msf post(ntds_location) > show options
    ... show and set options ...
msf post(ntds_location) > set SESSION session-id
msf post(ntds_location) > exploit

If you wish to run the post against all sessions from framework, here is how:

1 - Create the following resource script:


framework.sessions.each_pair do |sid, session|
  run_single("use post/windows/gather/ntds_location")
  run_single("set SESSION #{sid}")
  run_single("run")
end

2 - At the msf prompt, execute the above resource script:

msf > resource path-to-resource-script

Required Options

  • SESSION: The session to run this module on.

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Msfconsole Usage

Here is how the windows/gather/ntds_location post exploitation module looks in the msfconsole:

msf6 > use post/windows/gather/ntds_location

msf6 post(windows/gather/ntds_location) > show info

       Name: Post Windows Gather NTDS.DIT Location
     Module: post/windows/gather/ntds_location
   Platform: Windows
       Arch: 
       Rank: Normal

Provided by:
  Stuart Morgan <[email protected]>

Compatible session types:
  Meterpreter

Basic options:
  Name     Current Setting  Required  Description
  ----     ---------------  --------  -----------
  SESSION                   yes       The session to run this module on.

Description:
  This module will find the location of the NTDS.DIT file (from the 
  Registry), check that it exists, and display its location on the 
  screen, which is useful if you wish to manually acquire the file 
  using ntdsutil or vss.

Module Options

This is a complete list of options available in the windows/gather/ntds_location post exploitation module:

msf6 post(windows/gather/ntds_location) > show options

Module options (post/windows/gather/ntds_location):

   Name     Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----     ---------------  --------  -----------
   SESSION                   yes       The session to run this module on.

Advanced Options

Here is a complete list of advanced options supported by the windows/gather/ntds_location post exploitation module:

msf6 post(windows/gather/ntds_location) > show advanced

Module advanced options (post/windows/gather/ntds_location):

   Name       Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----       ---------------  --------  -----------
   VERBOSE    false            no        Enable detailed status messages
   WORKSPACE                   no        Specify the workspace for this module

Post Actions

This is a list of all post exploitation actions which the windows/gather/ntds_location module can do:

msf6 post(windows/gather/ntds_location) > show actions

Post actions:

   Name  Description
   ----  -----------

Evasion Options

Here is the full list of possible evasion options supported by the windows/gather/ntds_location post exploitation module in order to evade defenses (e.g. Antivirus, EDR, Firewall, NIDS etc.):

msf6 post(windows/gather/ntds_location) > show evasion

Module evasion options:

   Name  Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----  ---------------  --------  -----------

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Error Messages

This module may fail with the following error messages:

Error Messages

Check for the possible causes from the code snippets below found in the module source code. This can often times help in identifying the root cause of the problem.

Unable to find the location of NTDS.DIT

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "Unable to find the location of NTDS.DIT" error message:

27:	
28:	  def run
29:	    # Find the location of NTDS.DIT in the Registry
30:	    ntds = registry_getvaldata('HKLM\\SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\NTDS\\Parameters', 'DSA Database file')
31:	    unless ntds
32:	      print_error('Unable to find the location of NTDS.DIT')
33:	      return
34:	    end
35:	
36:	    if file?(ntds)
37:	      f = client.fs.file.stat(ntds)

NTDS.DIT is reportedly located at `<NTDS>', but the file does not appear to exist

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "NTDS.DIT is reportedly located at `<NTDS>', but the file does not appear to exist" error message:

37:	      f = client.fs.file.stat(ntds)
38:	      print_line("NTDS.DIT is located at: #{ntds}")
39:	      print_line("      Size: #{f.size.to_s} bytes")
40:	      print_line("   Created: #{f.ctime.to_s}")
41:	      print_line("  Modified: #{f.mtime.to_s}")
42:	      print_line("  Accessed: #{f.atime.to_s}")
43:	    else
44:	      print_error("NTDS.DIT is reportedly located at `#{ntds}', but the file does not appear to exist")
45:	    end
46:	  end
47:	end

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See Also

Check also the following modules related to this module:

Authors

  • Stuart Morgan <stuart.morgan[at]mwrinfosecurity.com>

Version

This page has been produced using Metasploit Framework version 6.2.1-dev. For more modules, visit the Metasploit Module Library.

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