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Directory Access Protocol

In Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) Authentication, the Application directly verifies the User Credentials. The Application has a pair of AD Credentials that it can use first to query LDAP and then verify the Active Directory (AD) User Credentials. 

:: LDAP
389/TCP

  • LDAP Authentication is a popular mechanism with Third-Party (NON-Microsoft) applications that integrate with Active Directory
    • [Gitlab - Jenkins - Custom Web Applications - Printers - VPN's]

If any of these Applications or Services are exposed on the Internet, the same type of attacks as those leveraged against NTLM Authenticated Systems can be used. In essence, we can attempt to recover the AD credentials used by the service to gain Authenticated Access to AD.

These Credentials are often stored in Plain-Text in Configuration Files since the Security model relies on keeping the Location and Storage Configuration file Secure rather than its Contents.