DeepSurface: Credentials

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WIN protocols

In order for credentialed scanning to work, DeepSurface needs to have access to the machines in your environment and they can all be configured and managed in one place in the application. The credentials interface is crucial for credentialed scanning to work at all, and without valid creds, DeepSurface cannot give accurate results.

DeepSurface has rich support for a variety of different credential types/protocols and privileged access management (PAM) systems. This section of the documentation will go over the the general ways to configure credentials and how to set their priorities, but we also offer full documentation on different PAM options as well in great detail here.

The different PAM options that are available at this time are:

The different protocols that DeepSurface supports at this time are:

NOTE: SMB is still technically supported but has been deprecated in favor of the other protocols and it is not advised to configure this method.

For each protocol + PAM combination, the form changes to accomodate what information DeepSurface will need to utilize that method. Some combinations are quite simple, and others are quite complicated. For each method, the form itself includes contextual help links next to each field. Users can also refer to this documentation and specific documentation for each PAM method listed above. We will cover some of the combinations below:

SMB/WMI, WinRM (Powershell Remoting), and SMB

The simplest credentials to configure are the 3 windows methods that do not use a PAM (although they also work with any of the PAMs as well). For any of these methods, DeepSurface just needs a username and password as well as an optional domain if your systems are configured to need one. The forms for these three methods are all the same and look something like the following:

WIN protocols

SSH Password and SSH Private Key

For authenticating into linux machines, DeepSurface offers both SSH Password and SSH Private Key methods. For either method, add credentials to the necessary fields. For either approach, you can enter a sudo elevation method. From there, it is possible to then provide an additional password if necessary for sudo access.

SSH protocols

Credentials + PAM

It is possible to use any of the credential protocols in combination with supported PAM types. To add a PAM to a credential, simply select the PAM from the PAM Type dropdown in the left column of the form. The available PAM types to choose from will depend on the protocol method you are trying to use. For more detailed documentation on how to configure a specific PAM, read our detailed documentation on each type here.

Credential Hierarchy

One important concept to understand is that credentials will be used by our credentialed scanner while running a scan. A scan can be configured by designating a Scan Group (covered in the next section here), and assigning a given credential or set of credentials for that scan group to use to attempt to authenticate into machines on your network. When attempting authentication during a scan, DeepSurface will try one credential after another that you provide in order, until it has succesfully authenticated into a given box. Because of this, you can reorder the credentials by dragging and dropping them in the credentials interface so that certain credentials will always appear first in the list when creating or editing a scan group. A credential's order is clearly displayed in the interface.

Drag and drop

User Guide/Scanning/
Credentials

Credentials

WIN protocols

In order for credentialed scanning to work, DeepSurface needs to have access to the machines in your environment and they can all be configured and managed in one place in the application. The credentials interface is crucial for credentialed scanning to work at all, and without valid creds, DeepSurface cannot give accurate results.

DeepSurface has rich support for a variety of different credential types/protocols and privileged access management (PAM) systems. This section of the documentation will go over the the general ways to configure credentials and how to set their priorities, but we also offer full documentation on different PAM options as well in great detail here.

The different PAM options that are available at this time are:

The different protocols that DeepSurface supports at this time are:

  • SMB/WMI
  • WinRM (Powershell Remoting)
  • SSH Password
  • SSH Private Key
  • SMB (deprecated)

NOTE: SMB is still technically supported but has been deprecated in favor of the other protocols and it is not advised to configure this method.

For each protocol + PAM combination, the form changes to accomodate what information DeepSurface will need to utilize that method. Some combinations are quite simple, and others are quite complicated. For each method, the form itself includes contextual help links next to each field. Users can also refer to this documentation and specific documentation for each PAM method listed above. We will cover some of the combinations below:

SMB/WMI, WinRM (Powershell Remoting), and SMB

The simplest credentials to configure are the 3 windows methods that do not use a PAM (although they also work with any of the PAMs as well). For any of these methods, DeepSurface just needs a username and password as well as an optional domain if your systems are configured to need one. The forms for these three methods are all the same and look something like the following:

WIN protocols

SSH Password and SSH Private Key

For authenticating into linux machines, DeepSurface offers both SSH Password and SSH Private Key methods. For either method, add credentials to the necessary fields. For either approach, you can enter a sudo elevation method. From there, it is possible to then provide an additional password if necessary for sudo access.

SSH protocols

Credentials + PAM

It is possible to use any of the credential protocols in combination with supported PAM types. To add a PAM to a credential, simply select the PAM from the PAM Type dropdown in the left column of the form. The available PAM types to choose from will depend on the protocol method you are trying to use. For more detailed documentation on how to configure a specific PAM, read our detailed documentation on each type here.

Credential Hierarchy

One important concept to understand is that credentials will be used by our credentialed scanner while running a scan. A scan can be configured by designating a Scan Group (covered in the next section here), and assigning a given credential or set of credentials for that scan group to use to attempt to authenticate into machines on your network. When attempting authentication during a scan, DeepSurface will try one credential after another that you provide in order, until it has succesfully authenticated into a given box. Because of this, you can reorder the credentials by dragging and dropping them in the credentials interface so that certain credentials will always appear first in the list when creating or editing a scan group. A credential's order is clearly displayed in the interface.

Drag and drop