PowerShell Access Control Module 4.0 Preview Update

There’s a new version of the PAC 4.0 Preview available on the TechNet Script Repository. There’s still no official documentation in the new version, so I’ll briefly mention some of the changes below. If you missed it, the first post on the 4.0 preview is here:

Modification Cmdlets

The following cmdlets are now available:

• New-AccessControlEntry
• Add-AccessControlEntry
• Remove-AccessControlEntry
• Enable-AclInheritance
• Disable-AclInheritance
• Set-Owner
• Set-SecurityDescriptor

Like in previous versions, these commands can be used to work with native .NET security descriptor objects (output from Get-Acl), PAC security descriptor objects (output from Get-SecurityDescriptor), or directly with a whole bunch of objects. Here are some examples of what I’m talking about:

Working with .NET Security Descriptor Objects

You’re probably familiar with using the native PowerShell and .NET commands to work with security descriptors. You do something like this:

$Acl = Get-Acl C:\powershell
$Ace = New-Object System.Security.AccessControl.FileSystemAccessRule(
 "Everyone",
 "Write",
 "ContainerInherit, ObjectInherit",
 "None",
 "Allow"
)
$Acl.AddAccessRule($Ace)
$Acl | Set-Acl

That’s a lot of work to add a single Allow ACE giving Everyone Write access. You can use the PAC module to shorten that code to this:

$Acl = Get-Acl C:\powershell
$Ace = New-AccessControlEntry -Principal Everyone -FolderRights Write
$Acl.AddAccessRule($Ace)
$Acl | Set-Acl

You can also just cut out the New-AccessControlEntry call completely, which would shorten the snippet to this:

$Acl = Get-Acl C:\powershell
$Acl | Add-AccessControlEntry -Principal Everyone -FolderRights Write
$Acl | Set-Acl

And finally, one more way to shorten that:

Get-Acl C:\powershell | Add-AccessControlEntry -Principal Everyone -FolderRights Write -Apply

When you use -Apply like that, the module will actually call Set-SecurityDescriptor, so you’re not just using native PowerShell and .NET commands at that point.

Working with PAC Security Descriptor Objects

This actually looks just like working with the .NET security descriptor objects, except you use Get-SecurityDescriptor instead of Get-Acl, and Set-SecurityDescriptor instead of Set-Acl.

Working With Objects Directly

You don’t even need to use Get-Acl/Set-Acl or Get-SecurityDescriptor/Set-SecurityDescriptor. There are a ton of .NET and WMI instances that the module knows how to work with. These commands would be valid:

# This defaults to enabling inheritance on the DACL, but the SACL can be controlled, too
dir C:\powershell -Recurse |
Enable-AclInheritance -PassThru |
Remove-AccessControlEntry -RemoveAllAccessEntries -Apply

# -Apply isn't necessary here because the input object isn't a security descriptor. -Force
# would stop it from prompting you before saving the security descriptor.
Get-Service bits | Add-AccessControlEntry -Principal Users -ServiceRights Start, Stop

Get-SmbShare share | Add-AccessControlEntry -Principal Everyone -AccessMask ([ROE.PowerShellAccessControl.Enums.ShareRights]::FullControl)

PacSDOption Common Parameter

Most of the commands in the module have a parameter named -PacSDOption. That’s how you control things like recursing through child items (where supported), getting the SACL, bypassing the ACL check (the -BypassAclCheck parameter from the last post doesn’t exist as a direct cmdlet parameter anymore). The parameter’s input is from the New-PacCommandOption cmdlet. Here’s an example:

# Get the DACL and SACL entries for C:\powershell, even if you don't have permission to view them
Get-AccessControlEntry C:\powershell -PacSDOption (New-PacCommandOption -BypassAclCheck -Audit)

# Get the DACL and SACL entries for C:\powershell and any child folders (even if long paths are there):
Get-AccessControlEntry C:\powershell -PacSDOption (New-PacCommandOption -Recurse -Directory)

Formatting

The default formatting of a security descriptor now shows both the DACL and the SACL:

The module will also check for the existence of a hash table named $PacOptions, and change how ACEs are displayed depending on its value. For now, there’s a single display option ‘DontAbbreviateAppliesTo’ that let’s you control how the AppliesTo column is displayed on ACEs. Here’s an example of how to create the hash table and change the AppliesTo setting:

Remember that this is still a preview version, so you’ll probably come across some things that don’t work the way they’re supposed to. If you find a problem, have a question about how to do something, or have a suggestion, please either post a comment below or send me an e-mail (magicrohn -at- outlook.com). Since there’s no documentation yet, I really don’t have a problem answering any questions.

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