t1482-domain-trust-discovery

name	T1482_domain-trust-discovery
description	Adversaries may attempt to gather information on domain trust relationships that may be used to identify lateral movement opportunities in Windows multi-domain/forest environments.
category	information-gathering
version	18.1
author	cyberstrike-official
tags	["mitre-attack","enterprise","t1482","discovery","windows"]
technique_id	T1482
tactic	discovery
all_tactics	["discovery"]
platforms	["Windows"]
mitre_url	https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1482
tech_stack	["windows"]
cwe_ids	["CWE-200"]
chains_with	[]
prerequisites	[]
severity_boost	{}

T1482 Domain Trust Discovery

High-Level Description

Adversaries may attempt to gather information on domain trust relationships that may be used to identify lateral movement opportunities in Windows multi-domain/forest environments. Domain trusts provide a mechanism for a domain to allow access to resources based on the authentication procedures of another domain. Domain trusts allow the users of the trusted domain to access resources in the trusting domain. The information discovered may help the adversary conduct SID-History Injection, Pass the Ticket, and Kerberoasting. Domain trusts can be enumerated using the DSEnumerateDomainTrusts() Win32 API call, .NET methods, and LDAP. The Windows utility Nltest is known to be used by adversaries to enumerate domain trusts.

Kill Chain Phase

• Discovery (TA0007)

Platforms: Windows

What to Check

• Identify if Domain Trust Discovery technique is applicable to target environment
• Check Windows systems for indicators of Domain Trust Discovery
• Verify mitigations are bypassed or absent (2 known mitigations)
• Assess detection coverage (1 detection strategies)

How to Test

Atomic Red Team Tests

The following tests are from Atomic Red Team and provide actionable ways to test this technique:

Atomic Test 1: Windows - Discover domain trusts with dsquery

Uses the dsquery command to discover domain trusts. Requires the installation of dsquery via Windows RSAT or the Windows Server AD DS role.

Supported Platforms: windows

dsquery * -filter "(objectClass=trustedDomain)" -attr *

Atomic Test 2: Windows - Discover domain trusts with nltest

Uses the nltest command to discover domain trusts. Requires the installation of nltest via Windows RSAT or the Windows Server AD DS role. This technique has been used by the Trickbot malware family.

Supported Platforms: windows

nltest /domain_trusts
nltest /trusted_domains

Dependencies:

• nltest.exe from RSAT must be present on disk

Atomic Test 3: Powershell enumerate domains and forests

Use powershell to enumerate AD information. Requires the installation of PowerShell AD admin cmdlets via Windows RSAT or the Windows Server AD DS role.