| name | conducting-internal-reconnaissance-with-bloodhound-ce |
| description | Conduct internal Active Directory reconnaissance using BloodHound Community Edition to map attack paths, identify privilege escalation chains, and discover misconfigurations in domain environments. |
| domain | cybersecurity |
| subdomain | red-teaming |
| tags | ["red-team","reconnaissance","bloodhound","active-directory","attack-paths","privilege-escalation","graph-analysis"] |
| version | 1.0 |
| author | mahipal |
| license | Apache-2.0 |
| d3fend_techniques | ["Restore Access","Password Authentication","Biometric Authentication","Strong Password Policy","Restore User Account Access"] |
| nist_csf | ["ID.RA-01","GV.OV-02","DE.AE-07"] |
Conducting Internal Reconnaissance with BloodHound CE
Legal Notice: This skill is for authorized security testing and educational purposes only. Unauthorized use against systems you do not own or have written permission to test is illegal and may violate computer fraud laws.
Overview
BloodHound Community Edition (CE) is a modern, web-based Active Directory reconnaissance platform developed by SpecterOps that uses graph theory to reveal hidden relationships and attack paths within AD environments. Unlike the legacy BloodHound application, BloodHound CE uses a PostgreSQL backend with a dedicated graph database, providing improved performance, a modern web UI, and enhanced API capabilities. Red teams use BloodHound CE to collect AD objects, ACLs, sessions, group memberships, and trust relationships, then visualize attack paths from compromised low-privileged accounts to high-value targets like Domain Admins. The SharpHound collector (v2 for CE) gathers data from Active Directory, while AzureHound collects from Azure AD / Entra ID environments.
When to Use
- When conducting security assessments that involve conducting internal reconnaissance with bloodhound ce
- When following incident response procedures for related security events
- When performing scheduled security testing or auditing activities
- When validating security controls through hands-on testing
Prerequisites
- Familiarity with red teaming concepts and tools
- Access to a test or lab environment for safe execution
- Python 3.8+ with required dependencies installed
- Appropriate authorization for any testing activities
Objectives
- Deploy BloodHound CE server using Docker Compose
- Collect AD data using SharpHound v2 or BloodHound.py
- Import collected data into BloodHound CE for graph analysis
- Identify shortest attack paths from owned principals to Domain Admins
- Discover ACL-based attack paths, Kerberoastable accounts, and delegation abuse
- Execute custom Cypher queries for advanced attack path analysis
- Generate attack path reports for engagement documentation
MITRE ATT&CK Mapping
- T1087.002 - Account Discovery: Domain Account
- T1069.002 - Permission Groups Discovery: Domain Groups
- T1482 - Domain Trust Discovery
- T1615 - Group Policy Discovery
- T1018 - Remote System Discovery
- T1033 - System Owner/User Discovery
