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AD-USER-11: User AdminCount count should be retrievable

ID AD-USER-11
Severity Info
Suite Active Directory (on-premises)
Product Active Directory
Feature Users
Security area Privileged access
Resource type User
Reads from On-premises Active Directory

The AdminCount attribute is commonly set on protected and privileged accounts. These users often inherit AdminSDHolder protections and may retain elevated access or restricted ACL inheritance.

  • Privilege visibility: Highlights accounts that may be administrative or formerly administrative
  • Delegation impact: Protected accounts behave differently from standard users
  • Security review: Helps identify users that warrant stronger monitoring and change control

Detective

  • Review each account with AdminCount = 1 to confirm it still requires elevated protections
  • Validate that privileged accounts are intentionally assigned and documented
  • Investigate stale or unexpected protected users and remove unnecessary privileged group membership

This test counts user objects where the AdminCount attribute equals 1.

  • Test-MtAdUserNonStandardPrimaryGroupCount - Finds users with unusual group membership baselines
  • Test-MtAdUserSpnSetCount - Identifies potentially high-value service accounts

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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