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Agents42k · #4704

competition-ad-certificate-abuse

Helps your agent analyze attacks on digital certificate systems. It investigates how certificates can be misused to gain access.

What it does

This tool helps understand how digital certificate misconfigurations can be exploited for unauthorized access. It analyzes how an issued certificate can lead to privileges within a network environment.

When to use it

  • ✓When you suspect a digital certificate is misconfigured.
  • ✓When investigating how a certificate can be used to gain system access.
  • ✓To understand the steps of a certificate-based attack.

Example of what to ask your AI

“How can a misconfigured certificate grant me administrator access?”

Want more? Open the sections below.

How to use

The easiest way: copy the message below and paste it into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any AI. It reads the skill and follows the instructions.

Skill link

https://github.com/zhaoxuya520/reverse-skill/blob/main/CTF-Sandbox-Orchestrator/competition-ad-certificate-abuse/SKILL.md

Ready-to-paste message

Use this skill to help me: https://github.com/zhaoxuya520/reverse-skill/blob/main/CTF-Sandbox-Orchestrator/competition-ad-certificate-abuse/SKILL.md Read the SKILL.md file at that link and follow its instructions for my task.
How it works

The tool examines the configuration of digital certificates and how systems accept them. It traces the path from certificate issuance to the privilege gained.

Installation

Easiest way: copy the skill link and paste it into Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor asking it to follow the instructions.

In the terminal (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor), in your project folder:

npx skills add zhaoxuya520/reverse-skill --skill competition-ad-certificate-abuse

Or download just the file:

curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zhaoxuya520/reverse-skill/main/CTF-Sandbox-Orchestrator/competition-ad-certificate-abuse/SKILL.md -o SKILL.md
Technical content (original SKILL.md)

Original text by the author, straight from GitHub.

Competition AD Certificate Abuse

Use this skill only as a downstream specialization after $ctf-sandbox-orchestrator is already active and has established sandbox assumptions, node ownership, and evidence priorities. If that has not happened yet, return to $ctf-sandbox-orchestrator first.

Use this skill when the decisive identity edge is certificate-based and the hard part is proving how a template or CA policy turns into accepted privilege.

Reply in Simplified Chinese unless the user explicitly requests English.

Quick Start

  1. Identify the CA, template, enrolling principal, and accepting service before diving into every certificate detail.
  2. Separate template enrollability from cert-based authentication or privilege acceptance.
  3. Record EKUs, subject or SAN controls, issuance requirements, enrollment rights, and mapping behavior in compact blocks.
  4. Tie the issued cert to one accepted path: PKINIT, Schannel, LDAPS, WinRM, or another mapped service.
  5. Reproduce the smallest certificate issuance-to-acceptance chain that yields the decisive privilege.

Workflow

1. Map CA And Template Trust

  • Record CA configuration, template name, enrollment permissions, manager approval, authorized signatures, EKUs, subject requirements, and SAN behavior.
  • Note whether the path depends on alternate subject names, UPN, DNS names, enrollment agent behavior, or template supersedence.
  • Keep principal, template, and issuance policy tied together.

2. Prove Cert-To-Privilege Acceptance

  • Show how the issued certificate is mapped or accepted: PKINIT, smartcard logon, Schannel auth, service mapping, or explicit certificate mapping.
  • Record serial, subject, SAN, EKU, validity, and the exact service or domain edge that accepts it.
  • Distinguish certificate issuance from the separate step where privilege is actually granted.

3. Reduce To The Decisive Abuse Chain

  • Compress the path to the smallest sequence: enrollment right or misconfig -> issued cert -> accepted mapping -> resulting privilege.
  • State clearly whether the weakness lives in template config, CA policy, mapping logic, relay path, or enrollment rights.
  • If the task is really about delegation or ticket transformation after PKINIT, switch back to the tighter Kerberos skill.

Read This Reference

  • Load references/ad-certificate-abuse.md for the AD CS checklist, template checklist, and evidence packaging.

What To Preserve

  • CA names, template names, rights, EKUs, issuance flags, SAN controls, and mapping details
  • Issued certificate fields, serials, subjects, SANs, and the accepting service or logon path
  • The smallest reproducible enrollment-to-privilege chain
FAQ

What are EKUs and SANs?

EKUs (Extended Key Usages) define what a certificate can be used for, and SANs (Subject Alternative Names) add information like domain names or IPs to the certificate.

What is PKINIT?

PKINIT is an authentication method that uses certificates to prove the identity of a user or computer, allowing system login.

What does 'privilege path' mean?

It's the sequence of steps or flaws that leads from a starting point (like a misconfigured certificate) to obtaining higher privileges on a system.

Details

Original description by the author

Internal downstream skill for ctf-sandbox-orchestrator. CTF-sandbox workflow for AD CS, certificate templates, enrollment rights, EKUs, SAN controls, PKINIT, certificate mapping, and cert-based privilege paths. Use when the user asks about ESC-style abuse, certificate templates, enrollment agents, EKUs, SAN or subject controls, smartcard or PKINIT logon, CA policy, or how an issued cert turns into

repo: zhaoxuya520/reverse-skill

Popularity

GitHub stars
42k
Ranking position
#4704
License
MIT
Updated
9/22/2026

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