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.

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

- MITRE ATT&CK
+ Kill Chain Phases
+ NIST
+ CIS
- Threat Actors
ID Technique Tactic
T1098 Account Manipulation Persistence
T1098.002 Additional Email Delegate Permissions Privilege Escalation
KillChainPhase.EXPLOITAITON
KillChainPhase.INSTALLATION
NistCategory.DE_CM
Cis18Value.CIS_10
APT3
APT41
APT5
Dragonfly
FIN13
HAFNIUM
Kimsuky
Lazarus Group
Magic Hound
APT28
APT29
Magic Hound

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
This configuration file applies to all detections of type TTP. These detections will use Risk Based Alerting and generate Notable Events.

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
The Risk Score is calculated by the following formula: Risk Score = (Impact * Confidence/100). Initial Confidence and Impact is set by the analytic author.

References

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