Entra ID Microsoft Authentication Broker Sign-In with Non-Standard User Agent
Description
Detects Microsoft Entra ID sign-in activity where the Microsoft Authentication Broker authenticates is using a user agent that is not consistent with common browser, mobile, or Windows platform authentication clients. Adversary-in-the-middle and OAuth phishing tooling often presents scripted or relayed user agents (for example Node.js, Python, or generic HTTP libraries) while still targeting first-party resources through the broker.
Query · kuery
data_stream.dataset:"azure.signinlogs" and event.action:"Sign-in activity" and event.outcome:(success or Success) and (azure.signinlogs.properties.app_display_name:"Microsoft Authentication Broker" or azure.signinlogs.properties.app_id:"29d9ed98-a469-4536-ade2-f981bc1d605e") and user_agent.original:(* and not (Mozilla* or Dalvik* or *CFNetwork* or Windows-AzureAD-Authentication-Provider* or Java*ThinkPad*)) and azure.signinlogs.properties.resource_display_name:*
Investigation fields
Pivot points the source recommends for triage.
@timestampuser.nameuser_agent.originalsource.ipsource.as.numbersource.as.organization.namesource.geo.country_nameevent.outcomeazure.signinlogs.properties.user_principal_nameazure.signinlogs.properties.session_idazure.signinlogs.properties.app_display_nameazure.signinlogs.properties.app_idazure.signinlogs.properties.resource_display_nameazure.signinlogs.properties.resource_idazure.signinlogs.properties.authentication_protocolazure.tenant_id
Implementation guide
Microsoft Entra ID sign-in logs (logs-azure.signinlogs-*) must populate user_agent.original,
azure.signinlogs.properties.app_display_name, and azure.signinlogs.properties.resource_display_name.
Known false positives
- Legitimate automation, SDKs, or custom applications that obtain tokens through the Microsoft Authentication Broker against Graph, Azure AD, or Device Registration Service may use non-browser user agents. Baseline approved service principals, managed identities, and developer tooling before tuning exclusions for known automation patterns.
Analyst notes
Investigating Entra ID Microsoft Authentication Broker Sign-In with Non-Standard User Agent
Review azure.signinlogs.properties.user_principal_name, user_agent.original,
azure.signinlogs.properties.resource_display_name, azure.signinlogs.properties.session_id, source.ip, and
source.as.organization.name.
Confirm whether the user or application intentionally used a non-browser client against the requested resource.
Possible investigation steps
- Inspect
user_agent.originalfor automation libraries (for examplenode,axios,python-requests,curl). - Correlate
azure.signinlogs.properties.session_idwith other sign-ins, device registration audit events, or Graph activity in the same time window. - Review conditional access outcomes and identity protection signals for the user.
- Compare
source.ipand ASN against expected VPN, MDM, and developer egress.
False positive analysis
- Microsoft platform and mobile clients using Mozilla-, Dalvik-, CFNetwork-, or Windows-AzureAD-Authentication-Provider- style user agents are excluded by design.
- First-party CLI tools and test harnesses that legitimately broker tokens may still match if they use uncommon user agent strings.
Response and remediation
- If malicious, revoke refresh tokens for the user, review newly registered devices, and reset credentials per policy.
- Escalate when paired with suspicious ASN sign-ins, multi-IP OAuth flows, or follow-on Graph data access.