AD-DACL-03 - Conflict object count should be investigated

Contributed by Michael SouleAll contributors →

Overview

Conflict objects with CNF markers typically originate from replication or naming conflicts. Even when old, they can indicate historical AD hygiene issues and should be understood before being ignored.

• Surfaces replication-conflict remnants in DACL analysis
• Helps identify cleanup candidates
• Provides context for unexpected objects appearing in permission reviews

Control Type

Operational

Security Recommendation

Investigate conflict objects and confirm whether they are expected remnants, still referenced, or safe to clean up. Review their permissions before remediation to understand any delegated access that may still exist.

How the Test Works

This test retrieves $adState.DaclEntries, searches for CNF within ObjectDN, deduplicates matching distinguished names, and reports the number of unique conflict objects and associated DACL entries.

Related Tests

• Test-MtAdDaclConflictObjectDetails
• Test-MtAdDaclDistinctObjectCount
• Test-MtAdDaclDenyAceDetails

Test Metadata

Field	Value
Test ID	AD-DACL-03
Severity	Info
Suite	Active Directory
Category	Active Directory - DACL
PowerShell test	Test-MtAdDaclConflictObjectCount
Services	ActiveDirectory
Tags	AD, AD-DACL-03, AD.DACL

Source

• Test: tests/ad/dacl/Test.AD-DACL-03.ps1
• Documentation: tests/ad/dacl/Test.AD-DACL-03.md