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Topic starter 16/08/2025 8:38 pm
AD Explorer (Active Directory Explorer) is a powerful and free tool developed by Microsoft’s Sysinternals team. It’s designed for browsing, searching, and editing Active Directory (AD) databases, and is widely used by system administrators, security professionals, and penetration testers.
🧭 What Is AD Explorer?
- A graphical interface for exploring Active Directory structures.
- Lets you view and edit objects, attributes, and permissions in AD.
- Ideal for auditing, troubleshooting, and pentesting AD environments.
You can download it directly from Microsoft Learn.
🧰 Key Features
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Live AD Browsing | Navigate through users, computers, groups, and organizational units (OUs). |
| Advanced Search | Run complex LDAP queries to find specific objects or attributes. |
| Snapshots | Save and compare AD states offline to track changes over time. |
| Schema Viewing | Inspect object schemas and attribute definitions. |
| Permission Editing | Modify access control lists (ACLs) directly. |
| Favorites | Bookmark frequently accessed AD paths for quick access. |
🛡️ Security & Ethical Use
- Used in internal security assessments to identify misconfigurations or privileged accounts.
- Can help locate high-value targets like domain admins or sensitive servers.
- Requires domain credentials to access AD—any valid account can enumerate the domain.
For a real-world example of how pentesters use AD Explorer, check out this Black Hills InfoSec article.
🧪 Use Cases
- System administration: Manage and audit AD objects.
- Incident response: Investigate changes or suspicious accounts.
- Penetration testing: Enumerate targets and identify weak configurations.
- Compliance auditing: Verify group memberships and access rights.
