Why migrating user SID history is not secure?

Question

Hello team, I just want to confirm, why migrating user SID history using ADMT tool is not secure? What's the technical reason behind this? Looking for quick response. Thanks! Shreya!

Answer 1

Hi @Shreya Kumari

Because there are a risk on your domain when you allow SID history. It's recommended to avoid using SID history because this feature can be used by an attacker to get privilege on your domain using SID History injection to any user account as mentioned in the link below:

For more information , you can refer to the following article: Sneaky Active Directory Persistence #14: SID History

Regarding admt tools , this tool has known problems and is in limited support as mentioned in Microsoft download link : ADMT v3.2

Please don't forget to accept helpful answer

Answer 2

Hello Shreya Kumari,

Thank you for posting in Q&A forum.

The migration of user Security Identifier (SID) history using the Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) can be considered insecure for several reasons:

1.SID History Injection: As mentioned in the response, SID history can be exploited by attackers to gain elevated privileges in a domain. An attacker with sufficient permissions can inject a SID into the SID history attribute of a user account, effectively granting that user the rights and permissions associated with the injected SID. This could potentially allow unauthorized access to resources and data.

2.Legacy Access Control: SID history is often used to maintain access to resources when migrating accounts between domains. However, this can lead to a situation where old, possibly outdated permissions are carried over, which might not align with the current security policies and could inadvertently grant more access than intended.

3.Complex Access Auditing: With SID history, determining the actual access rights of a user can become more complex. When a user has multiple SIDs in their SID history, it can be challenging to audit and track which SID is granting access to which resources, leading to a less transparent security posture.

4.Maintenance Overhead: Managing SID history requires additional administrative effort. Administrators need to ensure that SID history is maintained correctly and cleaned up after the migration is complete to prevent security risks. This adds to the complexity and potential for error.

5.Tool Limitations: The ADMT tool itself has known issues and is in limited support, as mentioned. This means that there may be bugs or limitations in the tool that could impact the security or success of the migration process.

I hope the information above is helpful.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to let us know.

Best Regards,

Daisy Zhou

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