Detection: Azure AD External Guest User Invited

Updated Date: 2026-05-13 ID: c1fb4edb-cab1-4359-9b40-925ffd797fb5 Author: Gowthamaraj Rajendran, Mauricio Velazco, Splunk Type: TTP Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic detects the invitation of an external guest user within Azure AD. It leverages Azure AD AuditLogs to identify events where an external user is invited, using fields such as operationName and initiatedBy. Monitoring these invitations is crucial as they can lead to unauthorized access if abused. If confirmed malicious, this activity could allow attackers to gain access to internal resources, potentially leading to data breaches or further exploitation of the environment.

Search

 1`azure_monitor_aad` operationName="Invite external user"
 2  
 3| rename properties.* as *
 4  
 5| rename initiatedBy.user.userPrincipalName as initiatedBy
 6  
 7| rename targetResources{}.type as type
 8  
 9| rename userAgent as user_agent
10  
11| fillnull
12  
13| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime
14    BY dest user src
15       vendor_account vendor_product user_agent
16       initiatedBy type signature
17  
18| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
19  
20| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
21  
22| `azure_ad_external_guest_user_invited_filter`

Data Source

Name	Platform	Sourcetype	Source
Azure Active Directory Invite external user	Azure	`'azure:monitor:aad'`	`'Azure AD'`

Macros Used

Name	Value
azure_monitor_aad	`sourcetype=azure:monitor:aad`
azure_ad_external_guest_user_invited_filter	`search *`

azure_ad_external_guest_user_invited_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
T1136.003	Cloud Account	Persistence

Installation

DE.CM

CIS 10

LAPSUS$

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 Finding (Notable)	Yes
Rule Title	`%name%`
Rule Description	`%description%`
Notable Event Fields	user, dest
Creates Intermediate Finding (Risk Event)	Yes

TTP detections generate a Finding (Notable) and may generate Intermediate Findings (Risk Events) for associated entities.

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. This analytic was written to be used with the azure:monitor:aad sourcetype leveraging the AuditLogs log category.

Known False Positives

Administrator may legitimately invite external guest users. Filter as needed.

Associated Analytic Story

Azure Active Directory Persistence

Finding

Title	Entity Field	Entity Type	Risk Score
External Guest User $user$ initiated by $initiatedBy$	user	user	50

Intermediate Findings

Message	Entity Field	Entity Type	Risk Score
External Guest User $user$ initiated by $initiatedBy$	initiatedBy	user	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: 12