Suspicious modification of Global Administrator user properties


Description

'This query will detect if user properties of Global Administrator are updated by an existing user. Usually only user administrator or other global administrator can update such properties. Investigate if such user change is an attempt to elevate an existing low privileged identity or rogue administrator activity'

Query · kql

let query_frequency = 1h;
let query_period = 14d;
IdentityInfo
| where TimeGenerated > ago(query_period)
| where set_has_element(AssignedRoles, "Global Administrator")
| distinct AccountUPN, AccountObjectId
| join kind=inner (
    AuditLogs
    | where TimeGenerated > ago(query_frequency)
    | where OperationName=~ "Update user" and Result =~ "success"
    // | where isnotempty(InitiatedBy["user"])
    | mv-expand TargetResource = TargetResources
    | where TargetResource["type"] == "User"
    | extend AccountObjectId = tostring(TargetResource["id"])
    | where tostring(TargetResource["modifiedProperties"]) != "[]"
    | mv-apply modifiedProperty = TargetResource["modifiedProperties"] on (
        summarize modifiedProperties = make_bag(
            bag_pack(tostring(modifiedProperty["displayName"]),
                bag_pack("oldValue", trim(@'[\"\s]+', tostring(modifiedProperty["oldValue"])),
                    "newValue", trim(@'[\"\s]+', tostring(modifiedProperty["newValue"])))))
    )
    | where not(tostring(modifiedProperties["Included Updated Properties"]["newValue"]) in ("LastDirSyncTime", ""))
    | where not(tostring(modifiedProperties["Included Updated Properties"]["newValue"]) == "StrongAuthenticationPhoneAppDetail" and isnotempty(modifiedProperties["StrongAuthenticationPhoneAppDetail"]) and tostring(array_sort_asc(extract_all(@'\"Id\"\:\"([^\"]+)\"', tostring(modifiedProperties["StrongAuthenticationPhoneAppDetail"]["newValue"])))) == tostring(array_sort_asc(extract_all(@'\"Id\"\:\"([^\"]+)\"', tostring(modifiedProperties["StrongAuthenticationPhoneAppDetail"]["oldValue"])))))
    | extend
        Initiator = iif(isnotempty(InitiatedBy["app"]), tostring(InitiatedBy["app"]["displayName"]), tostring(InitiatedBy["user"]["userPrincipalName"])),
        InitiatorId = iif(isnotempty(InitiatedBy["app"]), tostring(InitiatedBy["app"]["servicePrincipalId"]), tostring(InitiatedBy["user"]["id"])),
        IPAddress = tostring(InitiatedBy[tostring(bag_keys(InitiatedBy)[0])]["ipAddress"])
) on AccountObjectId
| project TimeGenerated, Category, Identity, Initiator, IPAddress, OperationName, Result, AccountUPN, InitiatedBy, AdditionalDetails, TargetResources, AccountObjectId, InitiatorId, CorrelationId
| extend
    InitiatorName = tostring(split(Initiator, "@")[0]),
    InitiatorUPNSuffix = tostring(split(Initiator, "@")[1]),
    AccountName = tostring(split(AccountUPN, "@")[0]),
    AccountUPNSuffix = tostring(split(AccountUPN, "@")[1])
Raw source Suspicious modification of Global Administrator user properties · KQL
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Published by Azure/Azure-Sentinel ↗, licensed under MIT ↗. Reproduced here unmodified.
id: 48602a24-67cf-4362-b258-3f4249e55def
name: Suspicious modification of Global Administrator user properties
description: |
  'This query will detect if user properties of Global Administrator are updated by an existing user. Usually only user administrator or other global administrator can update such properties.
  Investigate if such user change is an attempt to elevate an existing low privileged identity or rogue administrator activity'
severity: Medium
requiredDataConnectors:
  - connectorId: AzureActiveDirectory
    dataTypes:
      - AuditLogs
  - connectorId: BehaviorAnalytics
    dataTypes:
      - IdentityInfo
queryFrequency: 1h
queryPeriod: 14d
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
tactics:
  - PrivilegeEscalation
relevantTechniques:
  - T1078.004
query: |
  let query_frequency = 1h;
  let query_period = 14d;
  IdentityInfo
  | where TimeGenerated > ago(query_period)
  | where set_has_element(AssignedRoles, "Global Administrator")
  | distinct AccountUPN, AccountObjectId
  | join kind=inner (
      AuditLogs
      | where TimeGenerated > ago(query_frequency)
      | where OperationName=~ "Update user" and Result =~ "success"
      // | where isnotempty(InitiatedBy["user"])
      | mv-expand TargetResource = TargetResources
      | where TargetResource["type"] == "User"
      | extend AccountObjectId = tostring(TargetResource["id"])
      | where tostring(TargetResource["modifiedProperties"]) != "[]"
      | mv-apply modifiedProperty = TargetResource["modifiedProperties"] on (
          summarize modifiedProperties = make_bag(
              bag_pack(tostring(modifiedProperty["displayName"]),
                  bag_pack("oldValue", trim(@'[\"\s]+', tostring(modifiedProperty["oldValue"])),
                      "newValue", trim(@'[\"\s]+', tostring(modifiedProperty["newValue"])))))
      )
      | where not(tostring(modifiedProperties["Included Updated Properties"]["newValue"]) in ("LastDirSyncTime", ""))
      | where not(tostring(modifiedProperties["Included Updated Properties"]["newValue"]) == "StrongAuthenticationPhoneAppDetail" and isnotempty(modifiedProperties["StrongAuthenticationPhoneAppDetail"]) and tostring(array_sort_asc(extract_all(@'\"Id\"\:\"([^\"]+)\"', tostring(modifiedProperties["StrongAuthenticationPhoneAppDetail"]["newValue"])))) == tostring(array_sort_asc(extract_all(@'\"Id\"\:\"([^\"]+)\"', tostring(modifiedProperties["StrongAuthenticationPhoneAppDetail"]["oldValue"])))))
      | extend
          Initiator = iif(isnotempty(InitiatedBy["app"]), tostring(InitiatedBy["app"]["displayName"]), tostring(InitiatedBy["user"]["userPrincipalName"])),
          InitiatorId = iif(isnotempty(InitiatedBy["app"]), tostring(InitiatedBy["app"]["servicePrincipalId"]), tostring(InitiatedBy["user"]["id"])),
          IPAddress = tostring(InitiatedBy[tostring(bag_keys(InitiatedBy)[0])]["ipAddress"])
  ) on AccountObjectId
  | project TimeGenerated, Category, Identity, Initiator, IPAddress, OperationName, Result, AccountUPN, InitiatedBy, AdditionalDetails, TargetResources, AccountObjectId, InitiatorId, CorrelationId
  | extend
      InitiatorName = tostring(split(Initiator, "@")[0]),
      InitiatorUPNSuffix = tostring(split(Initiator, "@")[1]),
      AccountName = tostring(split(AccountUPN, "@")[0]),
      AccountUPNSuffix = tostring(split(AccountUPN, "@")[1])
entityMappings:
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: Initiator
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: InitiatorName
      - identifier: UPNSuffix
        columnName: InitiatorUPNSuffix
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: AccountUPN
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: AccountName
      - identifier: UPNSuffix
        columnName: AccountUPNSuffix
  - entityType: IP
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: Address
        columnName: IPAddress
version: 1.0.4
kind: Scheduled
metadata:
    source:
        kind: Community
    author:
        name: Microsoft Security Research
    support:
        tier: Community
    categories:
        domains: [ "Security - Others", "Identity" ]

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