PowerTools
A deprecated collection of PowerShell tools for offensive security operations and penetration testing.
What is PowerTools?
PowerTools was a collection of PowerShell projects focused on offensive security operations, providing specialized tools for penetration testing and red team activities. It included utilities for Active Directory reconnaissance, privilege escalation, and PowerShell execution in restricted environments. The project helped security professionals conduct authorized security assessments by automating common offensive security tasks.
Security professionals, penetration testers, and red team operators conducting authorized security assessments on Windows environments. It was particularly useful for those specializing in Active Directory security and Windows privilege escalation techniques.
PowerTools provided a cohesive collection of battle-tested PowerShell tools specifically designed for offensive operations, saving security professionals time by automating complex reconnaissance and exploitation tasks. Its integration of multiple specialized tools into a single framework made it efficient for comprehensive security assessments.
Overview
PowerTools is a collection of PowerShell projects with a focus on offensive operations.
Use Cases
Best For
- Conducting Active Directory reconnaissance and enumeration
- Identifying Windows privilege escalation vectors
- Bypassing PowerShell execution restrictions in locked-down environments
- Automating common penetration testing tasks with PowerShell
- Learning offensive security techniques through practical tools
- Integrating multiple offensive tools into a cohesive workflow
Not Ideal For
- Teams requiring actively maintained tools with regular security updates and official support
- Organizations with compliance policies that prohibit using deprecated software in security assessments
- Projects needing integrated, up-to-date toolchains with modern PowerShell frameworks like PowerShell 7+
Pros & Cons
Pros
Originally developed by renowned security researchers @harmj0y and @sixdub, ensuring tools were battle-tested and effective for real-world offensive operations.
Included focused tools like PowerView for Active Directory reconnaissance and PowerUp for privilege escalation, automating complex penetration testing tasks as described in the project features.
Designed for cohesive use in security assessments, saving time by integrating multiple specialized tools into a single framework for efficient workflows.
Cons
The project is no longer maintained, with the README explicitly stating no pull requests are accepted and no issues will be answered, limiting reliability for current use.
Key tools like PowerView and PowerUp have been moved to the PowerSploit repository, disrupting the original integrated framework and causing confusion for users.
Tools such as PewPewPew are explicitly unsupported per the README and may not function with modern systems or security measures, posing potential risks.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Projects
PowerSploitPowerSploit - A PowerShell Post-Exploitation Framework
BloodHoundSix Degrees of Domain Admin
NishangNishang - Offensive PowerShell for red team, penetration testing and offensive security.
PowerShellEmpireEmpire is a PowerShell and Python post-exploitation agent.
Found a gem we're missing?
Open-Awesome is built by the community, for the community. Submit a project, suggest an awesome list, or help improve the catalog on GitHub.