Python3 implementation of an improved ADRecon for Pentesters, Red and Blue Teams

ADRecon is a tool which gathers information about MS Active Directory and generates an XSLX report to provide a holistic picture of the current state of the target AD environment.

Table of Contents

• Installation
• Usage
• Docker
• Collection Modules
• Acknowledgements
• License

Installation

# stable release from pypi
pipx install pyadrecon

# latest commit from github
pipx install git+https://github.com/l4rm4nd/PyADRecon

Then verify installation:

pyadrecon --version

Tip

For Windows, a standalone executable is provided. Look here.

Usage

usage: pyadrecon.py [-h] [--version] [--generate-excel-from CSV_DIR] [-dc DOMAIN_CONTROLLER] [-u USERNAME] [-p [PASSWORD]] [-d DOMAIN] [--auth {ntlm,kerberos}] [--tgt-file TGT_FILE] [--tgt-base64 TGT_BASE64]
                    [--ssl] [--port PORT] [-o OUTPUT] [--page-size PAGE_SIZE] [--threads THREADS] [--dormant-days DORMANT_DAYS] [--password-age PASSWORD_AGE] [--only-enabled] [--collect COLLECT]
                    [--no-excel] [-v]

PyADRecon - Python Active Directory Reconnaissance Tool

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --version             show program's version number and exit  
  --generate-excel-from CSV_DIR
                        Generate Excel report from CSV directory (standalone mode, no AD connection needed)
  -dc, --domain-controller DOMAIN_CONTROLLER
                        Domain Controller IP or hostname
  -u, --username USERNAME
                        Username for authentication
  -p, --password [PASSWORD]
                        Password for authentication (optional if using TGT)
  -d, --domain DOMAIN   Domain name (e.g., DOMAIN.LOCAL) - Required for Kerberos auth
  --auth {ntlm,kerberos}
                        Authentication method (default: ntlm)
  --tgt-file TGT_FILE   Path to Kerberos TGT ccache file (for Kerberos auth)
  --tgt-base64 TGT_BASE64
                        Base64-encoded Kerberos TGT ccache (for Kerberos auth)
  --ssl                 Force SSL/TLS (LDAPS). No LDAP fallback allowed.
  --port PORT           LDAP port (default: 389, use 636 for LDAPS)
  -o, --output OUTPUT   Output directory (default: PyADRecon-Report-<timestamp>)
  --page-size PAGE_SIZE
                        LDAP page size (default: 500)
  --dormant-days DORMANT_DAYS
                        Days for dormant account threshold (default: 90)
  --password-age PASSWORD_AGE
                        Days for password age threshold (default: 180)
  --only-enabled        Only collect enabled objects
  --collect COLLECT     Comma-separated modules to collect (default: all)
  --workstation WORKSTATION
                        Explicitly spoof workstation name for NTLM authentication (default: empty string, bypasses userWorkstations restrictions)  
  --no-excel            Skip Excel report generation
  -v, --verbose         Verbose output

Examples:
  # Basic usage with NTLM authentication
  pyadrecon.py -dc 192.168.1.1 -u admin -p password123 -d DOMAIN.LOCAL

  # With Kerberos authentication (bypasses channel binding)
  pyadrecon.py -dc dc01.domain.local -u admin -p password123 -d DOMAIN.LOCAL --auth kerberos

  # With Kerberos using TGT from file (bypasses channel binding)
  pyadrecon.py -dc dc01.domain.local -u admin -d DOMAIN.LOCAL --auth kerberos --tgt-file /tmp/admin.ccache

  # With Kerberos using TGT from base64 string (bypasses channel binding)
  pyadrecon.py -dc dc01.domain.local -u admin -d DOMAIN.LOCAL --auth kerberos --tgt-base64 BQQAAAw...

  # Only collect specific modules
  pyadrecon.py -dc 192.168.1.1 -u admin -p pass -d DOMAIN.LOCAL --collect users,groups,computers

  # Output to specific directory
  pyadrecon.py -dc 192.168.1.1 -u admin -p pass -d DOMAIN.LOCAL -o /tmp/adrecon_output

  # Generate Excel report from existing CSV files (standalone mode)
  pyadrecon.py --generate-excel-from /path/to/CSV-Files -o report.xlsx

Tip

PyADRecon always tries LDAPS on TCP/636 first.

If flag --ssl is not used, LDAP on TCP/389 may be tried as fallback.

Warning

If LDAP channel binding is enabled, this script will fail with automatic bind not successful - strongerAuthRequired, as ldap3 does not support it (see here). You must use Kerberos authentication instead.

If you use Kerberos auth under Linux, please create a valid /etc/krb5.conf and DC hostname entry in /etc/hosts. May read this. If you are on Windows, please make sure you have valid Kerberos tickets. May read this. Note that you can provide an already existing TGT ticket to the script via --tgt-file or --tgt-base64. For example, obtained by Netexec via netexec smb <TARGET> <ARGS> --generate-tgt <FILEMAME>.

Docker

There is also a Docker image available on GHCR.IO.

docker run --rm -v /etc/krb5.conf:/etc/krb5.conf:ro -v /etc/hosts:/etc/hosts:ro -v ./:/tmp/pyadrecon_output ghcr.io/l4rm4nd/pyadrecon:latest -dc dc01.domain.local -u admin -p password123 -d DOMAIN.LOCAL -o /tmp/pyadrecon_output

Collection Modules

As default, PyADRecon runs all collection modules. They are referenced to as default or all.

Though, you can freely select your own collection of modules to run:

Icon	Meaning
🛑	Requires administrative domain privileges (e.g. Domain Admins)
✅	Requires regular domain privileges (e.g. Authenticated Users)
💥	New collection modul in beta state. Results may be incorrect.

Forest & Domain

• forest ✅
• domain ✅
• trusts ✅
• sites ✅
• subnets ✅
• schema or schemahistory ✅

Domain Controllers

• dcs or domaincontrollers ✅

Users & Groups

• users ✅
• userspns ✅
• groups ✅
• groupmembers ✅
• protectedgroups ✅💥
• krbtgt ✅
• asreproastable ✅
• kerberoastable ✅

Computers & Printers

• computers ✅
• computerspns ✅
• printers ✅

OUs & Group Policy

• ous ✅
• gpos ✅
• gplinks ✅

Passwords & Credentials

• passwordpolicy ✅
• fgpp or finegrainedpasswordpolicy 🛑
• laps 🛑
• bitlocker 🛑

Managed Service Accounts

• gmsa or groupmanagedserviceaccounts ✅💥
• dmsa or delegatedmanagedserviceaccounts ✅💥
  • Only works for Windows Server 2025+ AD schema

Certificates

• adcs or certificates ✅💥
  • Detects ESC1, ESC2, ESC3, ESC4 and ESC9

DNS

• dnszones ✅
• dnsrecords ✅

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to the following folks:

• S3cur3Th1sSh1t for a first Claude draft of this Python3 port
• Sense-of-Security for the original ADRecon script in PowerShell
• cannatag for the awesome ldap3 Python client
• Forta for the awesome impacket suite
• Anthropic for Claude LLMs

License

PyADRecon is released under the MIT License.

The following third-party libraries are used:

Library	License
ldap3	LGPL v3
openpyxl	MIT
gssapi	MIT
impacket	Apache 2.0
winkerberos	Apache 2.0

Please refer to the respective licenses of these libraries when using or redistributing this software.