SMAD-X — Expert Active Directory Simulator

🇫🇷 La documentation en français est disponible dans ReadmeFR.md.

SMAD-X (Simulate, Model and Audit Active Directory eXpert) is an expert Active Directory simulator built with Avalonia UI and .NET 10. It generates an AD structure faithful to a fresh Windows Server installation and lets you visualize, document and export it without any real infrastructure.

🎯 Features

🏗️ Complete and Faithful Default AD Structure

Automatic generation of all containers and objects present in a freshly promoted AD domain:
- Builtin: Administrators, Users, Guests, Server Operators, Account Operators, Backup Operators…
- Users: Administrator, Guest, krbtgt, DefaultAccount, WDAGUtilityAccount + 16 default domain groups (Domain Admins, Schema Admins, Enterprise Admins, Protected Users, Key Admins, Cloneable Domain Controllers, Denied/Allowed RODC Password Replication Group…)
- Computers: default container for domain-joined workstations
- Domain Controllers (OU): DC01 with all FSMO roles
- System: Password Settings Container, Policies (Default Domain Policy, Default Domain Controllers Policy)
- ForeignSecurityPrincipals
Create a custom domain via File > New Domain
Distinguished Names computed automatically

🌐 Interactive Relationship Graph

Force-directed visualization of all relationships between objects
Separate rendering of User → Group memberships and Group → Group nesting
Filters by object type (User, Group, Computer, OU, GPO, PSO…) and by tier
Pan, zoom and node selection

🔗 Relationship Management

User → Group: dedicated tab to assign users to groups
Group → Group: dedicated tab to manage group nesting (groups inside groups)
GPO: Group Policy Object links to domains and OUs, with visual badge 🔗 GPO in the tree
PSO: Password Settings Object assignment to users and groups
GPOs are created under System\Policies to match the real AD structure

📤 Export

Native JSON (.smadx.json): full save and reload of the structure
PowerShell: ready-to-deploy scripts to create the structure in a real AD
- AD structure export (OUs, users, groups)
- Linked GPOs export
- PSOs export

🎨 Microsoft Tiering Model

Tier 0: Domain controllers, critical accounts and systems
Tier 1: Infrastructure and application servers
Tier 2: Workstations and standard users
Per-tier colors configurable through the UI

📝 Built-in Markdown Documentation

Every object has a rich Markdown description with role and security notes
Edit / Preview toggle
Pre-filled and localized descriptions for all default objects including security posture

🌙 Light / Dark Theme

Switch between Light and Dark themes at runtime — no restart required
Native Avalonia FluentTheme — menus and popups always rendered in the correct theme

🔍 Live Search in Tree

Search bar above the TreeView: filter nodes by name, type or description
Non-matching nodes are hidden; parent nodes are automatically expanded
Clear button to reset the filter instantly

🌍 Multilingual Support

Full interface available in French and English — language switch at runtime

🛡️ Delegations Viewer

Dedicated window listing all AD delegation entries (trustee, right, target DN, category, tier, inheritance)
Live filters by trustee, target DN, category (PasswordReset, ComputerManagement, AccountUnlock, AttributeWrite, FullControl, Other) and hide inherited toggle
Statistics bar showing delegation counts by category
Export to CSV for audit and reporting

⏱️ AD Timeline — Diff between two snapshots

Load two .smadx.json files (older vs. newer) and compute a structured diff
Highlights Added, Removed and Modified objects
Filters by change type, object type and free-text search
Summary statistics (added / removed / modified counts)
Export diff to CSV

✅ Active Directory Validation

Name validation following AD rules (forbidden characters, length, uniqueness)
Container rules enforced (e.g. a Container can only hold CN objects, not OUs)

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites: .NET 10 SDK — Windows, macOS or Linux
Build: dotnet build
Run: dotnet run --project SMAD-X/SMAD-X.csproj

📖 Usage

Default Structure on Startup

On launch, SMAD-X automatically loads a contoso.com domain with a complete AD structure faithful to a fresh Windows Server installation.

Create a New Domain

File > New Domain → enter the FQDN (e.g. corp.local) and choose whether tiering should be assigned automatically.

Add Objects

Select a parent node in the tree
Use the toolbar buttons: 📁 OU, 👤 User, 👥 Group, 💻 Computer, 🔑 GMSA…
The object is created as a child of the selected node, with its DN computed automatically

Copy / Paste

Action	Shortcut
Copy an object (and its children)	`Ctrl+C`
Paste into the selected container	`Ctrl+V`
Delete	`Del`

Graph View

View > Graph View: force-directed visualization of all relationships. Filter by object type or tier using the sidebar checkboxes. Toggle Group nesting to display Group → Group edges separately.

Relations Window

View > Relations: dedicated window with four tabs:

Tab	Purpose
👤 User → Group	Assign users to groups
👥 Group → Group	Manage group nesting
📋 GPO Links → OU	Link Group Policy Objects to OUs/Domain
🔑 PSO Subjects	Assign Password Settings Objects

Delegations Window

View > Delegations: lists all delegation entries with filters by trustee, target DN, category and inheritance. Export the full list to CSV for audit purposes.

AD Timeline

View > AD Timeline: compare two .smadx.json snapshots side-by-side. Review added, removed and modified objects with export to CSV.

Save / Load

Action	Menu
Save	`File > Save…` (`.smadx.json`)
Open	`File > Open…`
Export PowerShell (structure)	`File > Export PowerShell > AD Structure`
Export PowerShell (GPOs)	`File > Export PowerShell > GPOs`
Export PowerShell (PSOs)	`File > Export PowerShell > PSOs`

🔐 Default Accounts & Groups — Security Reference

Every default object includes an in-app Markdown description with role and security guidance.

🔴 Tier 0 — Critical (Domain / Forest)

Object	Type	Role	Key Security Points
Administrator	Account	Full domain access	Rename it, disable when not needed, monitor PtH / Mimikatz (Event 4624 type 3)
krbtgt	Account	Signs all Kerberos TGTs	Never delete/enable — Golden Ticket risk — rotate every 180 days (double rotation)
Domain Admins	Group	Full domain control	Keep minimal, use PAW, monitor Event 4728/4729
Enterprise Admins	Group	Full forest control	Keep empty — add members only for forest-wide operations
Schema Admins	Group	Modify AD schema	Keep empty — schema changes are irreversible
Domain Controllers	Group	All domain controllers	A compromised DC = compromised domain
Read-Only Domain Controllers	Group	Contains RODCs	Manage Password Replication Policy carefully
DnsAdmins	Group	DNS administration	Privilege escalation via DLL injection (Shay Ber 2017 — Event 4662)
Key Admins	Group	Manage msDS-KeyCredentialLink	Shadow Credentials attack (Whisker / pyWhisker)
Enterprise Key Admins	Group	Key Admins, forest-wide scope	Shadow Credentials — forest scope — keep empty
Cloneable Domain Controllers	Group	DC cloning	Cloned DC inherits source DC secrets — control membership

🟠 Tier 1 — Elevated Privileges

Object	Key Risk
Group Policy Creator Owners	Malicious GPO deployment — monitor Event 5136/5137
Cert Publishers	PKI escalation ESC1–ESC8 (Certify / Certipy)
RAS and IAS Servers	VPN/RADIUS interception if compromised
DnsUpdateProxy	DNS hijacking via ownerless DNS records
Allowed RODC Replication	Never place Tier 0 accounts here

🟡 Tier 2 — Monitoring Required

Object	Note
Protected Users	Add all Tier 0/1 accounts — blocks PtH, PtT, OverPtH, RC4, DES
Denied RODC Replication	Keep up-to-date with all critical accounts
Domain Users	Default group for all domain accounts — audit memberships
Domain Computers	All domain-joined machines — monitor unauthorized joins

🟢 System / Low Risk

Object	Note
Guest	Disabled by default since Server 2008 — do not enable
DefaultAccount	System account — do not modify
WDAGUtilityAccount	Windows Defender Application Guard — do not modify

🎨 Microsoft Tiering Model

Tier	Color	Scope
Tier 0	🔴 Red	Domain controllers, critical accounts and systems
Tier 1	🟠 Orange	Infrastructure and application servers
Tier 2	🟢 Green	Workstations and standard users

Colors are configurable via Settings > Tier Configuration.

🏗️ Architecture

SMAD-X/
├── Models/
│   ├── ADObject.cs                  # Core data model (DN, GPO, PSO, MemberOf…)
│   ├── ADObjectType.cs              # AD object type enumeration
│   ├── ADTreeNode.cs                # TreeView display node (GPO badge, tier color)
│   └── TierConfiguration.cs        # Tier color configuration
├── Services/
│   ├── ADDataService.cs             # Default structure, JSON save/load
│   ├── ADImportPowerShellService.cs # Import from PowerShell scripts
│   ├── ADPowerShellExportService.cs # Export to PowerShell scripts
│   ├── ADValidationService.cs       # Name validation and container rules
│   ├── LocalizationService.cs       # FR/EN multilingual support + security descriptions
│   └── ThemeService.cs              # Light/Dark theme management
├── ViewModels/
│   ├── MainWindowViewModel.cs       # Main ViewModel (MVVM)
│   ├── GraphViewModel.cs            # Graph view ViewModel
│   ├── RelationsViewModel.cs        # Relations ViewModel (User→Group, Group→Group, GPO, PSO)
│   ├── DelegationsViewModel.cs       # Delegations ViewModel (filter, stats, CSV export)
│   ├── DomainTimelineViewModel.cs    # Timeline ViewModel (diff, filters, CSV export)
│   └── TierConfigurationViewModel.cs
├── Views/
│   ├── MainWindow.axaml             # Main interface with GPO badge in tree
│   ├── GraphWindow.axaml            # Force-directed graph view
│   ├── RelationsWindow.axaml        # Relations window (4 tabs)
│   ├── DelegationsWindow.axaml      # Delegations viewer with filters and CSV export
│   ├── DomainTimelineWindow.axaml   # AD Timeline diff viewer
│   ├── NewDomainDialog.axaml        # New domain dialog
│   ├── TierConfigurationWindow.axaml
│   └── AboutDialog.axaml
├── Graph/
│   ├── GraphBuilder.cs              # Build graph from AD tree
│   ├── GraphCanvas.cs               # Avalonia graph renderer (zoom/pan/hit-test)
│   ├── GraphNode.cs / GraphEdge.cs  # Graph model
│   ├── GraphFilter.cs               # Type/tier/nesting filters
│   └── ForceSimulation.cs           # Force-directed algorithm
└── Converters/
	├── BoolToStringConverter.cs
	├── LocalizeConverter.cs
	└── MarkdownConverter.cs

🔧 Technologies

Component	Version	Role
.NET	10	Cross-platform runtime
Avalonia UI	12.0.3	Cross-platform UI framework
CommunityToolkit.Mvvm	latest	MVVM implementation
Markdig	latest	Markdown rendering
System.Text.Json	built-in	JSON serialization

📝 Use Cases

Profile	Use Case
Trainer / Student	Learn and teach AD concepts without real infrastructure
Administrator	Document and audit an existing AD architecture
Architect	Design and validate a new AD structure before deployment
Pentester / Red Team	Visualize attack paths via group relations, tiers and default account security notes
Integrator	Generate ready-to-deploy PowerShell scripts

🎯 Roadmap

📄 License

This project is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).

✅ You are free to

Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material

⚠️ Under the following terms

Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to this repository, and indicate if changes were made.

Based on SMAD-X — Expert Active Directory Simulator
Original work: https://github.com/JM2K69/SMAD-X
Copyright (c) 2025-2026 SMAD-X Project
Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0

NonCommercial — You may not use this project for commercial purposes without explicit prior written permission.

See the full LICENSE file for details.

Inspired by MockAD-Release by shokkadev.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to open issues or pull requests.

👨‍💻 Author

JM2K69

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 74 Commits
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
SMAD-X		SMAD-X
images		images
.gitignore		.gitignore
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
ROADMAP.md		ROADMAP.md
ReadmeFR.md		ReadmeFR.md
SMAD-X.png		SMAD-X.png
SMAD-X.slnx		SMAD-X.slnx
ad_structure_20260504_144107.json		ad_structure_20260504_144107.json
arborescence_ad.png		arborescence_ad.png
example.mockad.json		example.mockad.json
icone.ico		icone.ico

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SMAD-X — Expert Active Directory Simulator

🎯 Features

🏗️ Complete and Faithful Default AD Structure

🌐 Interactive Relationship Graph

🔗 Relationship Management

📤 Export

🎨 Microsoft Tiering Model

📝 Built-in Markdown Documentation

🌙 Light / Dark Theme

🔍 Live Search in Tree

🌍 Multilingual Support

🛡️ Delegations Viewer

⏱️ AD Timeline — Diff between two snapshots

✅ Active Directory Validation

🚀 Quick Start

📖 Usage

Default Structure on Startup

Create a New Domain

Add Objects

Copy / Paste

Graph View

Relations Window

Delegations Window

AD Timeline

Save / Load

🔐 Default Accounts & Groups — Security Reference

🔴 Tier 0 — Critical (Domain / Forest)

🟠 Tier 1 — Elevated Privileges

🟡 Tier 2 — Monitoring Required

🟢 System / Low Risk

🎨 Microsoft Tiering Model

🏗️ Architecture

🔧 Technologies

📝 Use Cases

🎯 Roadmap

📄 License

✅ You are free to

⚠️ Under the following terms

🤝 Contributing

👨‍💻 Author

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