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AD-DACL-14: Non-inherited ACE count should be investigated

ID AD-DACL-14
Severity Info
Suite Active Directory (on-premises)
Product Active Directory
Feature Permissions and delegation
Security area Access control
Resource type Permission
Reads from On-premises Active Directory

Non-inherited ACEs represent explicit access assignments applied directly to directory objects.

  • Custom delegation visibility: Explicit ACEs often reveal manual delegations and exceptions
  • Misconfiguration detection: Direct permissions are more likely to diverge from baseline inheritance
  • Review prioritization: Objects with many explicit ACEs deserve closer security review

Operational

  • Review why explicit permissions were added instead of relying on inheritance
  • Remove unnecessary one-off ACEs and standardize delegations where possible
  • Pay special attention to explicit ACEs on privileged containers and administrative objects

This test reads $adState.DaclEntries and counts entries where IsInherited is $false.

  • Test-MtAdDaclDenyAceCount - Counts deny ACEs in DACLs
  • Test-MtAdDaclPrivilegedAllowAceCount - Counts privileged allow authorizations
  • Test-MtAdDaclUnresolvedSidCount - Identifies stale SID references in ACEs

Mito check. Author: soulemike. Open-source licences.

Open-source licences. CIS Benchmark material © Center for Internet Security, Inc.; CISA SCuBA baselines are public domain (CC0).

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