Directory Persistence Audit

Directory persistence audit

Use this skill only for passive review of an already-supplied, sanitized evidence package. It is not discovery, validation, exploitation, or authorization.

When to Use

• Reviewing defensive directory control, baseline, monitoring, or exception evidence.
• Use only within explicit authorization and the stated rules of engagement.

When NOT to Use

• Do not treat this skill as permission to access, test, or change a target.
• Do not convert missing evidence into a clean result or a stronger claim.

Boundary

Never query, contact, authenticate to, or enumerate a live directory or service. Never provide commands, scripts, LDAP or API syntax, tool instructions, object changes, persistence creation, attack paths, edges, ranking, or exploitation.

Reject distinguished names, security or object identifiers, user or service principal values, object paths, names, hosts, domains, addresses, URLs, credentials, tickets, certificates, secrets, raw access-control material, and configuration bodies. Accept only opaque IDs and digests. Diagnostics stay generic and never quote rejected content.

Workflow

1. Accept only supplied-passive, sanitized evidence and opaque references.
2. Record the engagement cutoff, closed policy, snapshot receipt, and opaque scope and directory references.
3. Inventory only supplied abstract subjects. Do not discover or name objects.
4. Create one coverage cell for every subject and each required persistence- control family.
5. Keep control relationship, baseline, durability, protection, monitoring, freshness, and result as independent tracks.
6. Bind every evidence item to the exact subject, snapshot and digest, scope, directory, policy and digest, control and fingerprint, and upstream receipts.
7. Require supplied-passive mode, sanitization, eligibility, strict evidence window, cutoff compliance, and one retained custody receipt.
8. Keep policy, relationship, baseline, durability, protection, monitoring configuration, monitoring health, result, and upstream receipt roles separate.
9. Treat a nominal relationship as neither effective protection nor healthy monitoring. Policy assignment is neither application nor enforcement.
10. Accept imported Kerberos or certificate-service conclusions only through exact opaque receipts bound to the same snapshot and cell.
11. Use not-applicable only with a closed reason and exact current policy evidence. Keep that cell in the coverage denominator.
12. Create one immutable open finding for each exact current observed-exposure. This ledger cannot close findings.
13. Derive handoff state from exact finding, evidence, owner, and chronology. Handoffs transfer defensive work and grant no authority.
14. Resolve structural safety failures and semantic contradictions before relying on coverage or summaries.

Interpretation rules

• complete-no-observed-exposure means every applicable cell is current and no exposure was observed. Policy-backed NA cells do not create unknowns.
• complete-with-exposure means at least one current observed exposure has an immutable open finding.
• material-unknowns means a material track is unknown or indeterminate.
• stale means historical evidence cannot support current claims.
• incomplete means the exact coverage matrix is incomplete.

Report

Return the aggregate, track counts, open finding IDs, defensive handoffs, and generic conflict codes. Never reconstruct real directory values or operational steps from opaque evidence.

Rationalizations to reject

• “A read-only directory query is passive.” It still contacts a live system and is outside this skill.
• “The object name helps the reviewer.” Real names and paths create exposure; preserve only opaque references.
• “Membership proves durable control.” A relationship is not proof of durability, protection, or effective application.
• “Policy assignment proves enforcement.” Require separate exact evidence.
• “Monitoring is configured, so absence is meaningful.” Configuration is not health or detection evidence.
• “The upstream audit already passed.” Imported claims require the exact current opaque receipt and matching bindings.
• “The label did not change.” Snapshot, policy, control, or receipt drift invalidates historical claims.
• “We can close the finding here.” Findings stay open in this ledger.
• “The handoff approves remediation.” Handoffs transfer defensive work only.