Name:Azure AD Application Administrator Role Assigned id:eac4de87-7a56-4538-a21b-277897af6d8d version:5 date:2024-09-30 author:Mauricio Velazco, Gowthamaraj Rajendran, Splunk status:production type:TTP 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. Data_source:
-Azure Active Directory Add member to role
search:`azure_monitor_aad` "operationName"="Add member to role" "properties.targetResources{}.modifiedProperties{}.newValue"="\"Application Administrator\"" | rename properties.* as * | rename initiatedBy.user.userPrincipalName as initiatedBy | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime by user initiatedBy, result, operationName | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` | `azure_ad_application_administrator_role_assigned_filter`
how_to_implement: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. 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 -https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1098/003/ -https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/roles/permissions-reference#application-administrator drilldown_searches: name:'View the detection results for - "$user$"' search:'%original_detection_search% | search user = "$user$"' earliest_offset:'$info_min_time$' latest_offset:'$info_max_time$' name:'View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$user$"' search:'| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$user$") starthoursago=168 | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(search_name) as "Search Name" values(risk_message) as "Risk Message" values(analyticstories) as "Analytic Stories" values(annotations._all) as "Annotations" values(annotations.mitre_attack.mitre_tactic) as "ATT&CK Tactics" by normalized_risk_object | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`' earliest_offset:'$info_min_time$' latest_offset:'$info_max_time$' tags: analytic_story: - 'Azure Active Directory Privilege Escalation' asset_type:Azure Active Directory atomic_guid: confidence:50 impact:70 message:The privileged Azure AD role Application Administrator was assigned for User $user$ initiated by $initiatedBy$ mitre_attack_id: - 'T1098' - 'T1098.003' observable: name:'user' type:'User' - role: - 'Victim' name:'initiatedBy' type:'User' - role: - 'Attacker' product: - 'Splunk Enterprise' - 'Splunk Enterprise Security' - 'Splunk Cloud' required_fields: - '_time' - 'user' - 'properties.targetResources{}.type' - 'properties.initiatedBy.user.userPrincipalName' - 'properties.result' risk_score:35 security_domain:endpoint
