Elevate plz? Become Domain Admin in a split second via Configuration Manager

December 20, 2023December 17, 2023 by Martin Bengtsson

Introduction

Really short post, just to illustrate the possible privileges of being a Configuration Manager admin and having the ConfigMgr client installed on a Domain Controller.

While this might be stating the obvious for some people, I think it deserves a mention regardless.

This dictates a proper tiering model, especially around your Domain Controllers, making sure that Configmgr Admins does not have access to Domain Controllers and vice versa, but also to treat your ConfigMgr environment as tier0.

Uninstall any application in a jiffy using PowerShell and Configuration Manager

December 20, 2023December 17, 2023 by Martin Bengtsson

Introduction

I was recently tasked with the complete removal of Google Chrome from an environment. Google Chrome in question was installed via the default installer from Google, but also via a few custom repackaged installers, so I had multiple product IDs to consider.

Instead of manually looking for each product ID and use that with separate uninstallations, I figured to create some PowerShell code to do that for me automatically and on the fly.

This can be used to uninstall any application registered with the Windows installer, installed either as a .MSI or a select .EXE compiler.

Reduce your attack surface by uninstalling PowerShell version 2 using PowerShell and Microsoft Intune

December 15, 2023December 15, 2023 by Martin Bengtsson

Introduction

PowerShell version 2 is to this day still preinstalled on Windows 11 and all Windows Server versions with the exception of Windows Server 2022.

As the reader may know, PowerShell is a powerful tool that plays an important role in administering Windows systems. However, it also contains various features that can be leveraged by attackers with ill intentions.

If PowerShell version 2 is installed, it’s possible to bypass the constrained language mode, which normally is being enforced by application control solutions like AppLocker and similar.

PowerShell Constrained Language is a language mode of PowerShell designed to support day-to-day administrative tasks, yet restrict access to sensitive language elements that can be used to invoke arbitrary Windows APIs

If you haven’t removed PowerShell version 2 already, you should consider looking into it today as an early Christmas present. 🙂

Ps. this solution is only targeting workstations. If you need to remove PowerShell version 2 from servers, you cannot leverage Microsoft Intune. You should instead look into Configuration Manager or similar.

Automatically remove and disable unwelcome objects from privileged on-premises Active Directory groups using Microsoft Sentinel

May 24, 2024October 23, 2023 by Martin Bengtsson

Introduction

Active Directory is a prime target for attackers – and for most organizations something that’s considered the crown jewels. This is due to Active Directory still being the bread and butter for most organizations in regard to authentication and authorization.

When it comes to security, automation is your best friend and keeping a close eye on privileged group membership should be on top of your list.

This post will walk you through, how you can make sure no unwelcome objects make their way into privileged groups in on-premises AD, by leveraging Microsoft Sentinel and its option to run playbooks automated.

This breaks down to Microsoft Sentinel generating an alert, which triggers the associated Playbook, which triggers a Logic app, which triggers a Runbook in an Automation Account, which ultimately runs a PowerShell script on an on-premises server.

Big shout out to my colleague Christian Frohn Petersen who assisted in setting up the prerequisites for this solution. 🙂

How I stole my colleague’s OneDrive content and WiFi passwords using a fake iPhone cable and PowerShell

October 9, 2023October 8, 2023 by Martin Bengtsson

Introduction

Big disclaimer: This is done for educational purposes. Do not steal anyone’s OneDrive content or WiFi passwords – actually don’t steal anything at all. 🙂

Endpoint management and endpoint security are 2 sides of the same coin, which means I’m heavily invested in both worlds. I run internal attack simulations several times a year, and recently came up with a new idea in educating our users.

How about I demo how a fake iPhone cable is enough to steal their OneDrive content and password for their home WiFi?

This post will walk you through the details of doing just that. This involves the use of the infamous O.MG cable and a custom payload launching my PowerShell script directly from GitHub – and ultimately uploading the stolen loot to Dropbox.

How I enabled and tested Windows Copilot for the first time

September 29, 2023September 29, 2023 by Martin Bengtsson

Introduction

Last week, on September 21, Microsoft announced that Windows Copilot will begin to roll out to Windows 11, starting September 26.

Curious to know more on managing Windows Copilot, I dug into the various documentation on the subject, as well as researching on Twitter.

I managed to get to enable Windows Copilot on my Intune-managed Windows 11 device. Note that I’m located in Europe, and some documentation suggests that Windows Copilot isn’t available here just yet.

This post serves as notes from the field. 🙂

Silently enable BitLocker on non-Modern Standby capable devices using Microsoft Endpoint Manager

December 14, 2022December 14, 2022 by Martin Bengtsson

Introduction

I’ve been encrypting my Windows 11 devices using an Endpoint security disk encryption policy for a while now and haven’t had any issues. That’s until today.

Turns out there’s a known issue around this, which I haven’t encountered until now.

If the device in question doesn’t support Modern Standby, you will have to combine the ‘old’ Endpoint protection policies with the new Endpoint security policies. My findings down below.

If the device is HSTI-compliant but doesn’t support Modern Standby, an endpoint protection policy has to be configured to enforce silent BitLocker drive encryption

Getting Windows 11 CIS compliant: Configuring Windows Firewall Logging using PowerShell and Microsoft Intune

September 14, 2022September 14, 2022 by Martin Bengtsson

Introduction

I’m currently working on getting my Windows 11 devices CIS (CIS Center for Internet Security (cisecurity.org) compliant in regards to their benchmark. This takes some effort, especially if you don’t use Group Policy anymore. 🙂

For those who don’t know CIS benchmarks, get more details here: CIS Benchmarks (cisecurity.org) and here: Center for Internet Security (CIS) Benchmarks – Microsoft Compliance | Microsoft Docs

The CIS Benchmark for Microsoft Windows 11 Enterprise dictates that logging for Windows Firewall is enabled, and is configured with certain settings. None of those settings, at the time of writing, are available natively via Intune, so I have chosen to resort to PowerShell and Proactive Remediations.

My scripts will create each log file, for each firewall profile: Domain, Private, Public and make sure those log files are configured with the correct permissions (otherwise the Defender engine won’t have permissions to write to the files). Firewall logging will then be enabled with the recommended values.

Prevent Write and Execute access to non-approved removable storage using Device Control and Microsoft Intune

July 22, 2022July 22, 2022 by Martin Bengtsson

Introduction

Controlling which and how removable storage devices can be used in your environment, seems to be an increasing demand from new and existing business partners. At least that’s my observation made from within the legal vertical.

It all boils down to preventing data leakage and hardening of your security posture, so I figured showing how this can be achieved with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Device Control and Microsoft Intune, would make a decent blog post.

Configure and use Lenovo BIOS supervisor password during OSD using PowerShell and Configuration Manager

June 30, 2022June 29, 2022 by Martin Bengtsson

Introduction

Following up on my previous post, continuing on the Lenovo BIOS password topic. This time I’m illustrating, how you initially can set the supervisor password during the deployment of the operating system.

Find my previous post here: Inventory Lenovo BIOS password states using PowerShell and Proactive Remediations – imab.dk

Last time I mentioned, how this cannot be done remotely for security reasons. However, there are an option to allow this during OSD (Operating System Deployment), called System Deployment Boot Mode. If taking advantage of this, you’re allowed to set the supervisor password programmatically in WinPE.

I’m using PowerShell to do so, and this post will walk you through the necessities.