Detection: O365 Privileged Role Assigned To Service Principal

Description

The following analytic detects potential privilege escalation threats in Azure Active Directory (AD). This detection is important because it identifies instances where privileged roles that hold elevated permissions are assigned to service principals. This prevents unauthorized access or malicious activities, which occur when these non-human entities access Azure resources to exploit them. False positives might occur since administrators can legitimately assign privileged roles to service principals. This detection leverages the O365 Universal Audit Log data source.

1`o365_management_activity` Workload=AzureActiveDirectory Operation IN ("Add member to role.","Add eligible member to role.") 
2| eval user = ObjectId, src_user = case(match(mvindex('Actor{}.ID',-1),"User"),mvindex('Actor{}.ID',0),match(mvindex('Actor{}.ID',-1),"ServicePrincipal"),mvindex('Actor{}.ID',3),true(),mvindex('Actor{}.ID',0)), object_name = mvindex('ModifiedProperties{}.NewValue', mvfind('ModifiedProperties{}.Name',"Role\.DisplayName")), object_id = mvindex('ModifiedProperties{}.NewValue', mvfind('ModifiedProperties{}.Name',"Role\.TemplateId")), signature = Operation, result = ResultStatus, category = mvindex('Target{}.ID',2) 
3| stats count, min(_time) as firstTime, max(_time) as lastTime by src_user, user, category, result, object_name, object_id, signature 
4| lookup privileged_azure_ad_roles azuretemplateid as object_id OUTPUT isprvilegedadrole 
5| search isprvilegedadrole="TRUE" category!="User" 
6| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`  
7| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
8| `o365_privileged_role_assigned_to_service_principal_filter`

Data Source

No data sources specified for this detection.

Macros Used

Name Value
o365_management_activity sourcetype=o365:management:activity
o365_privileged_role_assigned_to_service_principal_filter search *
o365_privileged_role_assigned_to_service_principal_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
T1098.003 Additional Cloud Roles Privilege Escalation
KillChainPhase.EXPLOITAITON
KillChainPhase.INSTALLATION
NistCategory.DE_CM
Cis18Value.CIS_10
HAFNIUM
Lazarus Group
LAPSUS$
Scattered Spider

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

Administrators may legitimately assign the privileged roles to Service Principals as part of administrative tasks. Filter as needed.

Associated Analytic Story

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message Risk Score Impact Confidence
A privileged Azure AD role [$object_name$] was assigned to the Service Principal $user$ initiated by $src_user$ 75 75 100
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 o365:management:activity
Integration ✅ Passing Dataset o365 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