ID | Technique | Tactic |
---|---|---|
T1098 | Account Manipulation | Persistence |
T1098.003 | Additional Cloud Roles | Privilege Escalation |
Detection: Azure AD Application Administrator Role Assigned
Description
The following analytic identifies the assignment of the Application Administrator role to an Azure AD user. It leverages Azure Active Directory events, specifically monitoring the "Add member to role" operation. This activity is significant because users in this role can manage all aspects of enterprise applications, including credentials, which can be used to impersonate application identities. If confirmed malicious, an attacker could escalate privileges, manage application settings, and potentially access sensitive resources by impersonating application identities, posing a significant security risk to the Azure AD tenant.
Search
1`azure_monitor_aad` "operationName"="Add member to role" "properties.targetResources{}.modifiedProperties{}.newValue"="\"Application Administrator\""
2| rename properties.* as *
3| rename initiatedBy.user.userPrincipalName as initiatedBy
4| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime by user initiatedBy, result, operationName
5| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
6| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
7| `azure_ad_application_administrator_role_assigned_filter`
Data Source
Name | Platform | Sourcetype | Source | Supported App |
---|---|---|---|---|
Azure Active Directory Add member to role | Azure | 'azure:monitor:aad' |
'Azure AD' |
N/A |
Macros Used
Name | Value |
---|---|
azure_monitor_aad | sourcetype=azure:monitor:aad |
azure_ad_application_administrator_role_assigned_filter | search * |
azure_ad_application_administrator_role_assigned_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. This analytic was written to be used with the azure:monitor:aad sourcetype leveraging the Auditlog log category
Known False Positives
Administrators may legitimately assign the Application Administrator role to a user. Filter as needed.
Associated Analytic Story
Risk Based Analytics (RBA)
Risk Message | Risk Score | Impact | Confidence |
---|---|---|---|
The privileged Azure AD role Application Administrator was assigned for User $user$ initiated by $initiatedBy$ | 35 | 70 | 50 |
References
-
https://dirkjanm.io/azure-ad-privilege-escalation-application-admin/
-
https://posts.specterops.io/azure-privilege-escalation-via-service-principal-abuse-210ae2be2a5
-
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/roles/concept-understand-roles
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: 4