ID | Technique | Tactic |
---|---|---|
T1136 | Create Account | Persistence |
T1136.003 | Cloud Account | Persistence |
Detection: Azure Automation Runbook Created
Description
The following analytic detects the creation of a new Azure Automation Runbook within an Azure tenant. It leverages Azure Audit events, specifically the Azure Activity log category, to identify when a new Runbook is created or updated. This activity is significant because adversaries with privileged access can use Runbooks to maintain persistence, escalate privileges, or execute malicious code. If confirmed malicious, this could lead to unauthorized actions such as creating Global Administrators, executing code on VMs, and compromising the entire Azure environment.
Search
1`azure_audit` operationName.localizedValue="Create or Update an Azure Automation Runbook" object!=AzureAutomationTutorial* status.value=Succeeded
2| dedup object
3| rename claims.ipaddr as src_ip
4| rename caller as user
5| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime by object user, src_ip, resourceGroupName, object_path
6| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
7| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
8| `azure_automation_runbook_created_filter`
Data Source
Name | Platform | Sourcetype | Source | Supported App |
---|---|---|---|---|
Azure Audit Create or Update an Azure Automation Runbook | Azure | 'mscs:azure:audit' |
'mscs:azure:audit' |
N/A |
Macros Used
Name | Value |
---|---|
azure_audit | sourcetype=mscs:azure:audit |
azure_automation_runbook_created_filter | search * |
azure_automation_runbook_created_filter
is an empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.
Annotations
Default Configuration
This detection is configured by default in Splunk Enterprise Security to run with the following settings:
Setting | Value |
---|---|
Disabled | true |
Cron Schedule | 0 * * * * |
Earliest Time | -70m@m |
Latest Time | -10m@m |
Schedule Window | auto |
Creates Notable | Yes |
Rule Title | %name% |
Rule Description | %description% |
Notable Event Fields | user, dest |
Creates Risk Event | True |
Implementation
You must install the latest version of Splunk Add-on for Microsoft Cloud Services from Splunkbase (https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/3110/#/details). You must be ingesting Azure Audit events into your Splunk environment. Specifically, this analytic leverages the Azure Activity log category.
Known False Positives
Administrators may legitimately create Azure Automation Runbooks. Filter as needed.
Associated Analytic Story
Risk Based Analytics (RBA)
Risk Message | Risk Score | Impact | Confidence |
---|---|---|---|
A new Azure Automation Runbook $object$ was created by $user$ | 63 | 70 | 90 |
References
-
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/automation/automation-runbook-types
-
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/automation/manage-runbooks
-
https://www.inversecos.com/2021/12/how-to-detect-malicious-azure.html
-
https://microsoft.github.io/Azure-Threat-Research-Matrix/Persistence/AZT503/AZT503-3/
Detection Testing
Test Type | Status | Dataset | Source | Sourcetype |
---|---|---|---|---|
Validation | ✅ Passing | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Unit | ✅ Passing | Dataset | mscs:azure:audit |
mscs:azure:audit |
Integration | ✅ Passing | Dataset | mscs:azure:audit |
mscs:azure:audit |
Replay any dataset to Splunk Enterprise by using our replay.py
tool or the UI.
Alternatively you can replay a dataset into a Splunk Attack Range
Source: GitHub | Version: 4