Full Report
Kent Ickler // It’s been over two years since Jordan and I talked about a Blue Team’s perspective on Red Team tools. A Blue Team’s Perspective on Red Team Hack […] The post PlumHound Reporting Engine for BloodHoundAD appeared first on Black Hills Information Security, Inc..
Analysis Summary
# Tool/Technique: PlumHound
## Overview
PlumHound is an open-source report engine designed to consume data parsed by BloodHoundAD into a Neo4j database and generate actionable reports for Blue Teams, Systems Administrators, and Analysts. Its primary purpose is to leverage BloodHoundAD's control path-finding capabilities to identify and report on Active Directory security misconfigurations and vulnerabilities.
## Technical Details
- Type: Tool
- Platform: Built using Python; interacts with Neo4j database populated by BloodHoundAD data collectors (e.g., SharpHound).
- Capabilities: Connects to Neo4j, executes Cypher queries based on predefined "task-lists," and outputs remediation intelligence into CSV or HTML reports. It incorporates modules from BlueHound for advanced path analysis.
- First Seen: Information not explicitly provided, but discussed in the context of prior work on Red Team tools over two years old.
## MITRE ATT&CK Mapping
PlumHound itself is a defensive/analysis tool, but the vulnerabilities it reports on fundamentally relate to privilege escalation and defense evasion paths within Active Directory.
- **TA0004 - Privilege Escalation**
- **T1068 - Exploitation for Privilege Escalation** (Correlates with finding vulnerable paths)
- **TA0005 - Defense Evasion** (By understanding and closing attack paths)
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*Note: MITRE ATT&CK mapping primarily reflects the nature of the vulnerabilities PlumHound is designed to detect, rather than the tool's direct operation.*
## Functionality
### Core Capabilities
- **Data Ingestion:** Relies on BloodHoundAD to ingest and parse Active Directory data into Neo4j.
- **Report Generation:** Uses Python to query the Neo4j database via Cypher and output formatted reports (CSV/HTML).
- **Default Reporting:** Ships with 69 default reports covering common AD misconfigurations (e.g., delegation issues, Kerberoastable accounts, policy analysis).
- **Configuration:** Controlled via "task-lists" (files specifying Cypher queries and output formats).
### Advanced Features
- **AnalyzePath (BlueHound Module):** Identifies the "weakest link" in a control path vulnerability and produces a "kill-chain" for every vulnerable path by user, group, computer, OU, or group leading to a high-value target (e.g., Domain Admin).
- **BusiestPath (BlueHound Module):** Finds the shortest path(s) that affect the maximum number of users en route to a target (like Domain Admin). This helps prioritize remediation efforts based on impact.
- **Verbose Logging:** Configurable debug verbosity level (0-1000) for troubleshooting Cypher queries and development.
## Indicators of Compromise
PlumHound is a defensive analysis tool and does not exhibit malicious Indicators of Compromise unless deliberately configured to run malicious queries. IOCs listed below relate to its prerequisites and operation environment:
- File Hashes: N/A (Tool)
- File Names: `PlumHound.py`, `default.tasks`
- Registry Keys: N/A
- Network Indicators: Connection details to the *target* Neo4j server hosting the AD data (e.g., host, port, credentials).
- Behavioral Indicators: High volume querying against a Neo4j instance storing AD topology data.
## Associated Threat Actors
This tool is designed for **Blue Teams, Penetration Testers, and Security Analysts.** No known malicious threat actors are associated with its use.
## Detection Methods
Detection focuses on monitoring the integrity and query patterns of the underlying BloodHound/Neo4j infrastructure when PlumHound is active.
- **Signature-based detection:** Detection of the `PlumHound.py` executable or associated task files if deployed in an unauthorized context.
- **Behavioral detection:** Monitoring for Python processes executing complex or unusual Cypher queries against the critical Neo4j database acting as the AD intelligence store.
- **YARA rules:** N/A (Tool)
## Mitigation Strategies
Mitigation centers on securing the environment that PlumHound analyzes (Active Directory) and securing the tool itself.
- **Prevention Measures:** Regularly review and strip overly permissive delegation rights in Active Directory. Enforce the principle of least privilege.
- **Hardening Recommendations:** Secure the Neo4j database hosting BloodHound artifacts by enforcing strong, non-default credentials (e.g., changing the default password "neo4j" if still present). Ensure PlumHound is run only from trusted, controlled sources.
## Related Tools/Techniques
- **BloodHoundAD / BloodHound:** The prerequisite tool that collects AD penetration data and populates the Neo4j graph database.
- **SharpHound:** The data collector for BloodHound.
- **BlueHound:** The project merged into PlumHound, providing the AnalyzePath and BusiestPath modules.
- **Cypher:** The query language used by PlumHound to interrogate the Neo4j database.