ID | Technique | Tactic |
---|---|---|
T1078.004 | Cloud Accounts | Defense Evasion |
Detection: Azure AD Service Principal Authentication
Description
The following analytic identifies authentication events of service principals in Azure Active Directory. It leverages the azure_monitor_aad
data source, specifically targeting "Sign-in activity" within ServicePrincipalSignInLogs. This detection gathers details such as sign-in frequency, timing, source IPs, and accessed resources. Monitoring these events is significant for SOC teams to distinguish between normal application authentication and potential anomalies, which could indicate compromised credentials or malicious activities. If confirmed malicious, attackers could gain unauthorized access to resources, leading to data breaches or further exploitation within the environment.
Search
1`azure_monitor_aad` operationName="Sign-in activity" category=ServicePrincipalSignInLogs
2| rename properties.* as *
3| stats count earliest(_time) as firstTime latest(_time) as lastTime by user, user_id, src_ip, resourceDisplayName, resourceId
4| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
5| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
6| `azure_ad_service_principal_authentication_filter`
Data Source
Name | Platform | Sourcetype | Source | Supported App |
---|---|---|---|---|
Azure Active Directory Sign-in activity | Azure | 'azure:monitor:aad' |
'Azure AD' |
N/A |
Macros Used
Name | Value |
---|---|
azure_monitor_aad | sourcetype=azure:monitor:aad |
azure_ad_service_principal_authentication_filter | search * |
azure_ad_service_principal_authentication_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 Active Directory events into your Splunk environment through an EventHub. This analytic was written to be used with the azure:monitor:aad sourcetype leveraging the SignInLogs log category.
Known False Positives
Service Principals will legitimally authenticate remotely to your tenant. Implementing this detection after establishing a baseline enables a more accurate identification of security threats, ensuring proactive and informed responses to safeguard the Azure AD environment. source ips.
Associated Analytic Story
Risk Based Analytics (RBA)
Risk Message | Risk Score | Impact | Confidence |
---|---|---|---|
Service Principal $user$ authenticated from $src_ip$ | 25 | 50 | 50 |
References
Detection Testing
Test Type | Status | Dataset | Source | Sourcetype |
---|---|---|---|---|
Validation | ✅ Passing | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Unit | ✅ Passing | Dataset | Azure AD |
azure:monitor:aad |
Integration | ✅ Passing | Dataset | Azure AD |
azure:monitor:aad |
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