GPO linked count should be investigated
AD-GPOL-01InfoActive DirectoryGroup Policy
Part of Active Directory · Active Directory · Group Policy · All checks
Invoke-Maester -TestId AD-GPOL-01Overview
Section titled “Overview”Linked Group Policy Objects (GPOs) are actively applying settings to users and/or computers across your Active Directory environment.
For security assessments, it is important to understand the scope of actively linked (and therefore applying) policies. This test helps you:
- Identify the ratio of active vs unused policies
- Spot environments where many GPOs exist but only a subset are actually applied
- Prioritize review/cleanup efforts based on real policy exposure
Control Type
Section titled “Control Type”Operational
Security Recommendation
Section titled “Security Recommendation”- Review linked (active) GPOs regularly: Linked policies can change security posture immediately when modified.
- Audit unused/unlinked GPOs: Large numbers of unused policies can indicate mismanagement and increase the risk of accidental changes.
- Use the linked ratio: A low linked ratio might indicate policy sprawl or a backlog of orphaned policies.
How the Test Works
Section titled “How the Test Works”This test retrieves GPO state from Active Directory using Get-MtADGpoState (it uses $gpoState.GPOs and $gpoState.GPOLinks).
It then:
- Parses
gPLinkvalues to identify enabled (0) and enforced (2) link entries. - Counts distinct GPO GUIDs that have at least one enabled link.
- Compares linked GPO count vs total GPO count and reports both metrics in Markdown.
Related Tests
Section titled “Related Tests”Test-MtAdGpoTotalCount- Total GPO inventoryTest-MtAdGpoUnlinkedCount- GPOs not linked anywhereTest-MtAdGpoCreatedBefore2020Count- Potentially legacy GPOsTest-MtAdGpoChangedBefore2020Count- Potentially stale GPOs
Details
Section titled “Details”Every attribute of this check
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Test ID | AD-GPOL-01 |
| Severity | Info |
| Suite | Active Directory |
| Product | Active Directory |
| Feature | Group Policy |
| Area | Infrastructure hardening |
| Resource type | GroupPolicy |
| MITRE ATT&CK | None |
| PowerShell test | Test-MtAdGpoLinkedCount |
| Services | ActiveDirectory |
| Permissions | ActiveDirectory:Ldap:groupPolicyContainer.gPCFileSysPath:ReadProperty, ActiveDirectory:File:SYSVOL:Read |
Source
Section titled “Source”- Test:
tests/ad/gpo/Test.AD-GPOL-01.ps1 - Documentation:
tests/ad/gpo/Test.AD-GPOL-01.md