Authentication Method Changed for Privileged Account

Severity: high
Time window: 14d
Source: github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel

Identifies authentication methods being changed for a privileged account. This could be an indication of an attacker adding an auth method to the account so they can have continued access. Ref : https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/active-directory/fundamentals/security-operations-privileged-accounts#things-to-monitor-1

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Persistence	`T1098` Account Manipulation

Event coverage

Provider	Event
Entra-AuditLogs	User registered security info

Rules detecting the same action

Other rules on this platform that filter on the same API call or operation.

Authentication Methods Changed for Privileged Account (Kusto)
Change to Authentication Method (Sigma)
Guest Users Invited To Tenant By Non Approved Inviters (Sigma)
Multi Factor Authentication Disabled For User Account (Sigma)
New External User Granted Admin Role (Kusto)
NRT Authentication Methods Changed for VIP Users (Kusto)
Password Reset By User Account (Sigma)
Suspicious Login from deleted guest account (Kusto)

Rule body kusto

id: feb0a2fb-ae75-4343-8cbc-ed545f1da289
name: Authentication Method Changed for Privileged Account
description: |
  'Identifies authentication methods being changed for a privileged account. This could be an indication of an attacker adding an auth method to the account so they can have continued access.
  Ref : https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/active-directory/fundamentals/security-operations-privileged-accounts#things-to-monitor-1'
severity: High
requiredDataConnectors:
  - connectorId: AzureActiveDirectory
    dataTypes:
      - AuditLogs
  - connectorId: BehaviorAnalytics
    dataTypes:
      - IdentityInfo
queryFrequency: 2h
queryPeriod: 14d
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
tactics:
  - Persistence
relevantTechniques:
  - T1098
tags:
  - AADSecOpsGuide
query: |
    let VIPUsers = (IdentityInfo
    | where AssignedRoles contains "Admin"
    | summarize by tolower(AccountUPN));
    AuditLogs
    | where TimeGenerated > ago(2h)
    | where Category =~ "UserManagement"
    | where ActivityDisplayName =~ "User registered security info"
    | where LoggedByService =~ "Authentication Methods"
    | extend TargetUserPrincipalName = tostring(TargetResources[0].userPrincipalName)
    | where tolower(TargetUserPrincipalName) in (VIPUsers)
    | extend TargetAadUserId = tostring(TargetResources[0].id)
    | extend InitiatingUserPrincipalName = tostring(InitiatedBy.user.userPrincipalName)
    | extend InitiatingAadUserId = tostring(InitiatedBy.user.id)
    | extend InitiatingIPAddress = tostring(InitiatedBy.user.ipAddress)
    | extend TargetAccountName = tostring(split(TargetUserPrincipalName, "@")[0]), TargetAccountUPNSuffix = tostring(split(TargetUserPrincipalName, "@")[1])
    | extend InitiatingAccountName = tostring(split(InitiatingUserPrincipalName, "@")[0]), InitiatingAccountUPNSuffix = tostring(split(InitiatingUserPrincipalName, "@")[1])
entityMappings:
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: TargetUserPrincipalName
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: TargetAccountName
      - identifier: UPNSuffix
        columnName: TargetAccountUPNSuffix
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: AadUserId
        columnName: TargetAadUserId
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: InitiatingUserPrincipalName
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: InitiatingAccountName
      - identifier: UPNSuffix
        columnName: InitiatingAccountUPNSuffix
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: AadUserId
        columnName: InitiatingAadUserId
  - entityType: IP
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: Address
        columnName: InitiatingIPAddress
version: 1.0.5
kind: Scheduled

Stages and Predicates

Let binding: `VIPUsers`

let VIPUsers = (IdentityInfo
| where AssignedRoles contains "Admin"
| summarize by tolower(AccountUPN));

Stage 1: `source`

AuditLogs

Stage 2: `where`

| where TimeGenerated > ago(2h)

Stage 3: `where`

| where Category =~ "UserManagement"

Stage 4: `where`

| where ActivityDisplayName =~ "User registered security info"

Stage 5: `where`

| where LoggedByService =~ "Authentication Methods"

Stage 6: `extend`

| extend TargetUserPrincipalName = tostring(TargetResources[0].userPrincipalName)

Stage 7: `where`

| where tolower(TargetUserPrincipalName) in (VIPUsers)

References VIPUsers (defined above).

Stage 8: `extend` (6 consecutive steps)

| extend TargetAadUserId = tostring(TargetResources[0].id)
| extend InitiatingUserPrincipalName = tostring(InitiatedBy.user.userPrincipalName)
| extend InitiatingAadUserId = tostring(InitiatedBy.user.id)
| extend InitiatingIPAddress = tostring(InitiatedBy.user.ipAddress)
| extend TargetAccountName = tostring(split(TargetUserPrincipalName, "@")[0]), TargetAccountUPNSuffix = tostring(split(TargetUserPrincipalName, "@")[1])
| extend InitiatingAccountName = tostring(split(InitiatingUserPrincipalName, "@")[0]), InitiatingAccountUPNSuffix = tostring(split(InitiatingUserPrincipalName, "@")[1])

Indicators

Each row is a field, operator, and value that the rule matches. The corpus column counts how many other rules in the catalog look for the same combination: high numbers point to widely-used, community-vetted indicators. Blank or 1 shows that the indicator is specific to this rule.

Field	Kind	Values
`ActivityDisplayName`	eq	`User registered security info`
`Category`	eq	`UserManagement`
`LoggedByService`	eq	`Authentication Methods`
`TargetUserPrincipalName`	in	`VIPUsers` transforms: `tolower`, `cased`

Output fields

Fields the rule emits when it matches. Chronicle authors list these in the outcome block; they appear on the detection and $risk_score drives alerting. Sentinel / Defender XDR rules build them up through project / summarize / extend stages. Sentinel maps these into alert fields via entityMappings and customDetails; Defender XDR custom detections surface them as alert fields directly.

Field	Source
`TargetUserPrincipalName`	`extend`
`TargetAadUserId`	`extend`
`InitiatingUserPrincipalName`	`extend`
`InitiatingAadUserId`	`extend`
`InitiatingIPAddress`	`extend`
`TargetAccountName`	`extend`
`TargetAccountUPNSuffix`	`extend`
`InitiatingAccountName`	`extend`
`InitiatingAccountUPNSuffix`	`extend`

`j` / `k`	Scroll down / up
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`f`	Follow link (`Shift` = new tab)
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`Enter`	Open highlighted result
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`type:`	`events` / `rules` / `providers`
`vendor:`	`sigma` / `elastic` / `splunk` / `kusto` / `chronicle` (vendor name alone also works: `sigma:`, `kql:`, `secops:`…)
`tactic:`	TA-id, slug, or name: `credential_access`, `TA0006`
`technique:`	technique or sub-technique ID: `T1003`, `T1003.001` (alias `tech:`)
`severity:`	`critical` / `high` / `medium` / `low` / `informational` (alias `sev:`)
`risk_score`	Numeric comparison on the Elastic risk score (0 to 100): `risk_score>50`, `risk_score<=20`, `risk_score=99` (alias `risk`; Elastic rules only)
`stages:`	Rules with exactly N pipeline stages
`correlation:`	`single_event` / `sequence` / `alternatives` / `alternatives_cross_log` / `all_required` / `correlated`
`with:`	Co-occurrence event-id; stacks (`with:4624 with:4769`) to require all, while a comma list in one occurrence (`with:4624,4769`) is an either-or group. Implies multi-event
`like:`	Structural neighbors of a rule slug (equivalents + subsumption stricter / broader): `like:comsvcs_lsass_memory_dump-splunk-sysmon`
`groupby:`	Entity-grouping substring match against `group_by_keys`: `groupby:user`, `groupby:host`
`uses:`	Rules whose predicate tree touches the field (any kind, any value): `uses:CommandLine`
`excludes:`	Rules with top-level `not()` clauses on the field (FP whitelists): `excludes:ParentImage`
`field:` / `value:`	Predicate search; narrows rule cards to those with a matching leaf and drives the indicator tier. Unquoted = substring, wildcards allowed (`value:mimikatz`)
`indicator:`	Shorthand for `field:F value:V`: `indicator:Image=*\powershell.exe`
`kind:`	Filter by predicate kind. Narrows rule cards to those carrying a matching predicate leaf (`vendor:elastic kind:cidr_match`) and drives the indicator tier: `contains` / `starts_with` / `ends_with` / `regex` / `cidr` / `eq` / `in` … (operator aliases `op:`/`match:`)
`has:` / `no:`	`sample`, `field`, `notes`, `refs`, `trace`, `thirdparty`, `rule`, `pattern`, `timewindow`, `threshold`, `newterms`, `sigma`/`elastic`/`splunk`/`kusto`/`chronicle`
`-op:val`	Exclude matches; works on most operators but not `type:`/`like:`/`has:`/`no:` (use `no:<flag>` to exclude a rule flag): `tactic:execution -vendor:splunk`. Standalone `-kind:`/`-field:`/`-value:` drop every rule carrying a matching predicate leaf (`type:rules -kind:is_null`)
`field:"…"` / `value:"…"`	Quoted value = anchored exact match (also allows spaces): `value:"net user"`
`a,b`	Comma = OR inside one operator (`vendor:sigma,elastic`, `severity:high,critical`); repeating a facet merges the same way. `field:`/`value:` never split (literal commas)
`vendors:` / `stage:`	Singular and plural spellings fold to the canonical operator and value: `tactics:` = `tactic:`, `type:event` = `type:events`, `correlation:sequences` = `correlation:sequence`, `has:thresholds` = `has:threshold`
`"quoted phrase"`	Exact-match a multi-word phrase (free text)

Authentication Method Changed for Privileged Account

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rules detecting the same action

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Let binding: `VIPUsers`

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `where`

Stage 5: `where`

Stage 6: `extend`

Stage 7: `where`

Stage 8: `extend` (6 consecutive steps)

Indicators

Output fields

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Authentication Method Changed for Privileged Account

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rules detecting the same action

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Let binding: VIPUsers

Stage 1: source

Stage 2: where

Stage 3: where

Stage 4: where

Stage 5: where

Stage 6: extend

Stage 7: where

Stage 8: extend (6 consecutive steps)

Indicators

Output fields

Let binding: `VIPUsers`

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `where`

Stage 5: `where`

Stage 6: `extend`

Stage 7: `where`

Stage 8: `extend` (6 consecutive steps)