Group Privileges
Abusing Group Privileges
Dangerous Groups
whoami /groupsBuild-in Groups
Backup Operators
Check SeBackupPrivilege in User Privileges
Pre-compiled Tools
SeBackupPrivilege ?
or
Enable SeBackupPrivilege: Set-SeBackupPrivilege
Set-SeBackupPrivilegeCopying a Protected File
Attacking a Domain Controller - Copying NTDS.dit
This group also permits logging in locally to a domain controller.
Diskshadow
Copy ntds.dit
or with Robocopy
Backing up SAM and SYSTEM Registry Hives
Extract credentials
PowerShell
DSInternals
Secretsdump
With NXC

References
Event Log Readers
Confirming Group Membership
Searching Security Logs Using wevtutil
Passing Credentials to wevtutil
Searching Security Logs Using Get-WinEvent
Can also be run as another user with the -Credential parameter.
Other logs include PowerShell Operational log, which may also contain sensitive information or credentials if script block or module logging is enabled. This log is accessible to unprivileged users.
DnsAdmins
Generating Malicious DLL
Loading DLL as Member of DnsAdmins
The DLL will be loaded the next time the DNS service is started. Membership in the DnsAdmins group doesn't give the ability to restart the DNS service, but this is conceivably something that sysadmins might permit DNS admins to do.
Finding User's SID
Checking Permissions on DNS Service
RPWP permissions which translate to SERVICE_START and SERVICE_STOP, respectively.
Stopping the DNS Service
Starting the DNS Service
Confirming Group Membership
Sign out using "Start" then log in back to apply the changes

Cleaning Up
Using Mimilib.dll
Modifying the kdns.c file to execute a reverse shell one-liner
Creating a WPAD Record
Use a tool such as Responder or Inveigh to perform traffic spoofing, and attempt to capture password hashes and crack them offline or perform an SMBRelay attack
Disabling the Global Query Block List
Adding a WPAD Record pointing to our attack machine
Hyper-V Administrators
If Domain Controllers have been virtualized, then the virtualization admins should be considered Domain Admins
If the operating system is vulnerable to CVE-2018-0952 or CVE-2019-0841, we can leverage this to gain SYSTEM privileges. Otherwise, we can try to take advantage of an application on the server that has installed a service running in the context of SYSTEM, which is startable by unprivileged users,
For exemple Firefox:
After running the PowerShell script, we should have full control of this file and can take ownership of it.
Next, we can replace this file with a malicious maintenanceservice.exe, start the maintenance service, and get command execution as SYSTEM.
Print Operators
SeLoadDriverPrivilege
The driver Capcom.sys contains functionality to allow any user to execute shellcode with SYSTEM privileges.
Download the poc locally and edit it, pasting over the includes below.
Next, from a Visual Studio 2019 Developer Command Prompt, compile it using cl.exe. Or use pre-compiled tools
Compile with cl.exe
Add Reference to Driver
Download the Capcom.sys driver from here, and save it to C:\temp. Issue the commands below to add a reference to this driver under our HKEY_CURRENT_USER tree.
Verify Driver is not Loaded
Verify Privilege is Enabled
Verify Capcom Driver is Listed
Use ExploitCapcom Tool to Escalate Privileges

Alternate Exploitation - No GUI
Modify the ExploitCapcom.cpp code before compiling. Here we can edit line 292 and replace "C:\\Windows\\system32\\cmd.exe" with, say, a reverse shell binary created with msfvenom, for example: c:\ProgramData\revshell.exe.
CommandLine string in this example would be changed to:
Automating the Steps
Automate the process of enabling the privilege, creating the registry key, and executing NTLoadDriver to load the driver
Then run ExploitCapcom.exe to pop a SYSTEM shell or run our custom binary
Clean up
Pre-compiled Tools
Server Operators
Membership of this group confers the powerful SeBackupPrivilege and SeRestorePrivilege privileges and the ability to control local services.
Querying the AppReadiness Service
Checking Service Permissions with PsService
Checking Local Admin Group Membership
Our target account is not present.
Modifying the Service Binary Path
Add our current user to the default local administrators group
Starting the Service
Starting the service fails, which is expected.
But, if we check the membership of the administrators group, we see that the command was executed successfully.
Sign out using "Start" then log in back to apply the changes

Retrieving NTLM Password Hashes from the Domain Controller
“Network Configuration Operators” group
Active Directory Domain Services Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability (CVE-2025-21293)
DHCP Administrators Group

Interesting Book
Interesting BooksPentesting Active Directory and Windows-based Infrastructure Enhance your skill set to pentest against real-world Microsoft infrastructure with hands-on exercises and by following attack/detect guidelines with OpSec considerations
Infrastructure Attack Strategies for Ethical Hacking Encompassing both external and internal enumeration techniques, the book delves into attacking routers and services, establishing footholds, privilege escalation, lateral movement, and exploiting databases and Active Directory.
RTFM: Red Team Field Manual v2 A quick reference when there is no time to scour the Internet for that perfect command
Red Team Development and Operations: A practical guide The authors have moved beyond SANS training and use this book to detail red team operations in a practical guide.
Cybersecurity Attacks – Red Team Strategies A practical guide to building a penetration testing program having homefield advantage
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