Azure DevOps Administrator Group Monitoring

Status: available
Severity: medium
Time window: 4h
Source: github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel

'This detection monitors for additions to projects or project collection administration groups in an Azure DevOps Organization.'

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Persistence	`T1098` Account Manipulation

Rule body kusto

id: 89e6adbd-612c-4fbe-bc3d-32f81baf3b6c
name: Azure DevOps Administrator Group Monitoring
description: |
  'This detection monitors for additions to projects or project collection administration groups in an Azure DevOps Organization.'
severity: Medium
status: Available
requiredDataConnectors: []
queryFrequency: 4h
queryPeriod: 4h
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
tactics:
  - Persistence
relevantTechniques:
  - T1098
query: |
  // Change to true to monitor for Project Administrator adds to *any* project
  let MonitorAllProjects = false;
  // If MonitorAllProjects is false, trigger only on Project Administrator add for the following projects
  let ProjectsToMonitor = dynamic(['<project_X>','<project_Y>']);
  ADOAuditLogs
  | where Area == "Group" and OperationName == "Group.UpdateGroupMembership.Add"
  | where Details has 'Administrators'
  | where Details has "was added as a member of group" and (Details endswith '\\Project Administrators' or Details endswith '\\Project Collection Administrators')
  | parse Details with AddedIdentity ' was added as a member of group [' EntityName ']\\' GroupName
  | extend Level = iif(GroupName == 'Project Collection Administrators', 'Organization', 'Project'), AddedIdentityId = Data.MemberId
  | extend Severity = iif(Level == 'Organization', 'High', 'Medium'), AlertDetails = strcat('At ', TimeGenerated, ' UTC ', ActorUPN, '/', ActorDisplayName, ' added ', AddedIdentity, ' to the ', EntityName, ' ', Level)
  | where MonitorAllProjects == true or EntityName in (ProjectsToMonitor) or Level == 'Organization'
  | project TimeGenerated, Severity, Adder = ActorUPN, AddedIdentity, AddedIdentityId, AlertDetails, Level, EntityName, GroupName, ActorAuthType = AuthenticationMechanism,
    ActorIpAddress = IpAddress, ActorUserAgent = UserAgent, RawDetails = Details
  | extend timestamp = TimeGenerated
  | extend AccountName = tostring(split(Adder, "@")[0]), AccountUPNSuffix = tostring(split(Adder, "@")[1])
entityMappings:
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: Adder
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: AccountName
      - identifier: UPNSuffix
        columnName: AccountUPNSuffix
  - entityType: IP
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: Address
        columnName: ActorIpAddress
version: 1.0.5
kind: Scheduled

Stages and Predicates

Parameters

let MonitorAllProjects = false;
let ProjectsToMonitor = dynamic(['<project_X>','<project_Y>']);

Stage 1: `source`

ADOAuditLogs

Stage 2: `where`

| where Area == "Group" and OperationName == "Group.UpdateGroupMembership.Add"

Stage 3: `where`

| where Details has 'Administrators'

Stage 4: `where`

| where Details has "was added as a member of group" and (Details endswith '\\Project Administrators' or Details endswith '\\Project Collection Administrators')

Stage 5: `parse`

| parse Details with AddedIdentity ' was added as a member of group [' EntityName ']\\' GroupName

Stage 6: `extend`

| extend Level = iif(GroupName == 'Project Collection Administrators', 'Organization', 'Project'), AddedIdentityId = Data.MemberId

Stage 7: `extend`

| extend Severity = iif(Level == 'Organization', 'High', 'Medium'), AlertDetails = strcat('At ', TimeGenerated, ' UTC ', ActorUPN, '/', ActorDisplayName, ' added ', AddedIdentity, ' to the ', EntityName, ' ', Level)

Stage 8: `where`

| where MonitorAllProjects == true or EntityName in (ProjectsToMonitor) or Level == 'Organization'

Stage 9: `project`

| project TimeGenerated, Severity, Adder = ActorUPN, AddedIdentity, AddedIdentityId, AlertDetails, Level, EntityName, GroupName, ActorAuthType = AuthenticationMechanism,
  ActorIpAddress = IpAddress, ActorUserAgent = UserAgent, RawDetails = Details

Stage 10: `extend`

| extend timestamp = TimeGenerated

Stage 11: `extend`

| extend AccountName = tostring(split(Adder, "@")[0]), AccountUPNSuffix = tostring(split(Adder, "@")[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
`Area`	eq	`Group` transforms: `cased`
`Details`	ends_with	`\\Project Administrators` `\\Project Collection Administrators`
`Details`	match	`Administrators` transforms: `term` `was added as a member of group` transforms: `term`
`EntityName`	in	`<project_X>` transforms: `cased` `<project_Y>` transforms: `cased`
`Level`	eq	`Organization` transforms: `cased`
`OperationName`	eq	`Group.UpdateGroupMembership.Add` transforms: `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
`ActorAuthType`	`project`
`ActorIpAddress`	`project`
`ActorUserAgent`	`project`
`AddedIdentity`	`project`
`AddedIdentityId`	`project`
`Adder`	`project`
`AlertDetails`	`project`
`EntityName`	`project`
`GroupName`	`project`
`Level`	`project`
`RawDetails`	`project`
`Severity`	`project`
`TimeGenerated`	`project`
`timestamp`	`extend`
`AccountName`	`extend`
`AccountUPNSuffix`	`extend`

`j` / `k`	Scroll down / up
`d` / `u`	Half-page down / up
`gg` / `G`	Top / bottom
`h` / `l`	History back / forward
`f`	Follow link (`Shift` = new tab)
`/`	Focus search
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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)

Azure DevOps Administrator Group Monitoring

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Parameters

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `where`

Stage 5: `parse`

Stage 6: `extend`

Stage 7: `extend`

Stage 8: `where`

Stage 9: `project`

Stage 10: `extend`

Stage 11: `extend`

Indicators

Output fields

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Azure DevOps Administrator Group Monitoring

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Parameters

Stage 1: source

Stage 2: where

Stage 3: where

Stage 4: where

Stage 5: parse

Stage 6: extend

Stage 7: extend

Stage 8: where

Stage 9: project

Stage 10: extend

Stage 11: extend

Indicators

Output fields

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `where`

Stage 5: `parse`

Stage 6: `extend`

Stage 7: `extend`

Stage 8: `where`

Stage 9: `project`

Stage 10: `extend`

Stage 11: `extend`