ID | Technique | Tactic |
---|---|---|
T1098 | Account Manipulation | Persistence |
T1098.002 | Additional Email Delegate Permissions | Privilege Escalation |
Detection: O365 Elevated Mailbox Permission Assigned
Description
The following analytic identifies the assignment of elevated mailbox permissions in an Office 365 environment via the Add-MailboxPermission operation. It leverages logs from the Exchange workload in the o365_management_activity data source, focusing on permissions such as FullAccess, ChangePermission, or ChangeOwner. This activity is significant as it indicates potential unauthorized access or control over mailboxes, which could lead to data exfiltration or privilege escalation. If confirmed malicious, attackers could gain extensive access to sensitive email data and potentially manipulate mailbox settings, posing a severe security risk.
Search
1`o365_management_activity` Workload=Exchange Operation=Add-MailboxPermission
2| search (AccessRights=FullAccess OR AccessRights=ChangePermission OR AccessRights=ChangeOwner)
3| rename Identity AS dest_user
4| stats count earliest(_time) as firstTime latest(_time) as lastTime by user dest_user Operation AccessRights
5|`security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
6|`security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
7| `o365_elevated_mailbox_permission_assigned_filter`
Data Source
Name | Platform | Sourcetype | Source | Supported App |
---|---|---|---|---|
N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Macros Used
Name | Value |
---|---|
o365_management_activity | sourcetype=o365:management:activity |
o365_elevated_mailbox_permission_assigned_filter | search * |
o365_elevated_mailbox_permission_assigned_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 Splunk Microsoft Office 365 Add-on and ingest Office 365 management activity events.
Known False Positives
FullAccess mailbox delegation may be assigned for legitimate purposes, filter as needed.
Associated Analytic Story
Risk Based Analytics (RBA)
Risk Message | Risk Score | Impact | Confidence |
---|---|---|---|
Elevated mailbox permissions were assigned on $dest_user$ | 42 | 60 | 70 |
References
-
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/exchange/add-mailboxpermission
-
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/recipients/mailbox-permissions?view=exchserver-2019
Detection Testing
Test Type | Status | Dataset | Source | Sourcetype |
---|---|---|---|---|
Validation | ✅ Passing | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Unit | ✅ Passing | Dataset | o365:management:activity |
o365:management:activity |
Integration | ✅ Passing | Dataset | o365:management:activity |
o365:management:activity |
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: 3