Detection: O365 Privileged Role Assigned To Service Principal

Updated Date: 2024-09-24 ID: 80f3fc1b-705f-4080-bf08-f61bf013b900 Author: Steven Dick Type: TTP Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

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.

Search

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

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_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

APT3

APT41

APT5

Dragonfly

FIN13

HAFNIUM

Kimsuky

Lazarus Group

Magic Hound

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

Azure Active Directory Privilege Escalation

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: 2