PowerShell ScriptBlock Enumeration of AD Group Membership and User Attributes (Windows)

Flags PowerShell script blocks querying AD group membership and user details for discovery of privileged directory information.

FreeReviewedSigma · Low · v2

Product: windows
Category: ps_script
Author: frack113 (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published: 2021-12-15
Updated: 2026-07-31

Analysis Detection

ATT&CK techniques

Discovery

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
- T1069.001Local Groups
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule flags PowerShell script content that queries Active Directory group membership and user-related attributes commonly used during discovery. Attackers may enumerate domain principals to identify existing groups and determine which users belong to permissions-bearing groups, potentially revealing accounts with elevated access. The detection relies on ScriptBlockText content matches in PowerShell Script Block Logging for specific cmdlets and parameter patterns.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1069.001 — drag to rearrange

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Windows file creation for SharpHound/BloodHound collection output filenames

PowerShell Module: Get-SmbShare Used for SMB Share Discovery

PowerShell module enumeration of AD principals via get-ADPrincipalGroupMembership

Windows PowerShell: Query SMB Shares via Get-SmbShare

Windows Process Discovery via wmic.exe "group" Flag

PowerShell ScriptBlock Enumeration of AD Group Membership and User Attributes (Windows)

Pivot detection · T1069.001 · 9 related

Changelog

v2
Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
v1
No changelog recorded for this version.2026-07-30

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.

powershell-scriptblock-enumeration-of-ad-group-membership-and-users-88f0884b

title: PowerShell ScriptBlock Enumeration of AD Group Membership and User Attributes (Windows)
id: 0de9477e-6d6d-45e3-9b53-526acab2fcf3
status: test
description: This rule flags PowerShell script content that queries Active Directory group membership and user-related attributes commonly used during discovery. Attackers may enumerate domain principals to identify existing groups and determine which users belong to permissions-bearing groups, potentially revealing accounts with elevated access. The detection relies on ScriptBlockText content matches in PowerShell Script Block Logging for specific cmdlets and parameter patterns.
references:
  - https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/f339e7da7d05f6057fdfcdd3742bfcf365fee2a9/atomics/T1069.002/T1069.002.md
  - https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/powershell/powershell_script/posh_ps_susp_ad_group_reco.yml
author: frack113, Huntrule Team
date: 2021-12-15
modified: 2022-12-25
tags:
  - attack.discovery
  - attack.t1069.001
logsource:
  product: windows
  category: ps_script
  definition: "Requirements: Script Block Logging must be enabled"
detection:
  test_2:
    ScriptBlockText|contains: get-ADPrincipalGroupMembership
  test_7:
    ScriptBlockText|contains|all:
      - get-aduser
      - "-f "
      - "-pr "
      - DoesNotRequirePreAuth
  condition: 1 of test_*
falsepositives:
  - Unknown
level: low
license: DRL-1.1
related:
  - id: 88f0884b-331d-403d-a3a1-b668cf035603
    type: derived

Convert

This rule as a query you can run. Uses no unlock credit.

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