Changes to Application Ownership

Severity: medium
Time window: 2h
Author: Microsoft Security Research
Source: github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel

Detects changes to the ownership of an appplicaiton. Monitor these changes to make sure that they were authorized. Ref: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/entra/architecture/security-operations-applications#new-owner

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Persistence	`T1078.004` Valid Accounts: Cloud Accounts
Privilege Escalation	`T1078.004` Valid Accounts: Cloud Accounts

Event coverage

Provider	Event
Entra-AuditLogs	Add owner to application

Rules detecting the same action

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

Admin promotion after Role Management Application Permission Grant (Kusto)
Application ID URI Changed (Kusto)
Application Redirect URL Update (Kusto)
Changes to Application Logout URL (Kusto)
full_access_as_app Granted To Application (Kusto)
Mail.Read Permissions Granted to Application (Kusto)
Microsoft Entra ID Role Management Permission Grant (Kusto)
Suspicious application consent for offline access (Kusto)

Rule body kusto

id: cc5780ce-3245-4bba-8bc1-e9048c2257ce
name: Changes to Application Ownership
description: |
  'Detects changes to the ownership of an appplicaiton.
    Monitor these changes to make sure that they were authorized.
    Ref: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/entra/architecture/security-operations-applications#new-owner'
severity: Medium
requiredDataConnectors:
  - connectorId: AzureActiveDirectory
    dataTypes:
      - AuditLogs
queryFrequency: 2h
queryPeriod: 2h
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
tactics:
  - Persistence
  - PrivilegeEscalation
relevantTechniques:
  - T1078.004
tags:
  - AADSecOpsGuide
query: |
  AuditLogs
    | where Category =~ "ApplicationManagement"
    | where OperationName =~ "Add owner to application"
    | extend InitiatingAppName = tostring(InitiatedBy.app.displayName)
    | extend InitiatingAppServicePrincipalId = tostring(InitiatedBy.app.servicePrincipalId)
    | extend InitiatingUserPrincipalName = tostring(InitiatedBy.user.userPrincipalName)
    | extend InitiatingAadUserId = tostring(InitiatedBy.user.id)
    | extend InitiatingIPAddress = tostring(InitiatedBy.user.ipAddress)
    | extend TargetUserPrincipalName = TargetResources[0].userPrincipalName
    | extend TargetAadUserId = tostring(TargetResources[0].id)
    | extend mod_props = TargetResources[0].modifiedProperties
    | mv-expand mod_props
    | where mod_props.displayName =~ "Application.DisplayName"
    | extend TargetAppName = tostring(parse_json(tostring(mod_props.newValue)))
    | extend AddedUser = TargetUserPrincipalName
    | extend UpdatedBy = iif(isnotempty(InitiatingAppName), InitiatingAppName, InitiatingUserPrincipalName)
    | extend InitiatingAccountName = tostring(split(InitiatingUserPrincipalName, "@")[0]), InitiatingAccountUPNSuffix = tostring(split(InitiatingUserPrincipalName, "@")[1])
    | extend TargetAccountName = tostring(split(TargetUserPrincipalName, "@")[0]), TargetAccountUPNSuffix = tostring(split(TargetUserPrincipalName, "@")[1])
    | project-reorder TimeGenerated, InitiatingAppName, InitiatingAppServicePrincipalId, InitiatingAadUserId, InitiatingUserPrincipalName, InitiatingIPAddress, TargetAppName, AddedUser, UpdatedBy
entityMappings:
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: InitiatingUserPrincipalName
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: InitiatingAccountName
      - identifier: UPNSuffix
        columnName: InitiatingAccountUPNSuffix
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: AadUserId
        columnName: InitiatingAadUserId
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: TargetUserPrincipalName
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: TargetAccountName
      - identifier: UPNSuffix
        columnName: TargetAccountUPNSuffix
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: AadUserId
        columnName: TargetAadUserId
version: 1.1.2
kind: Scheduled
metadata:
    source:
        kind: Community
    author:
        name: Microsoft Security Research
    support:
        tier: Community
    categories:
        domains: [ "Security - Others" ]

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `source`

AuditLogs

Stage 2: `where`

| where Category =~ "ApplicationManagement"

Stage 3: `where`

| where OperationName =~ "Add owner to application"

Stage 4: `extend` (8 consecutive steps)

| extend InitiatingAppName = tostring(InitiatedBy.app.displayName)
| extend InitiatingAppServicePrincipalId = tostring(InitiatedBy.app.servicePrincipalId)
| extend InitiatingUserPrincipalName = tostring(InitiatedBy.user.userPrincipalName)
| extend InitiatingAadUserId = tostring(InitiatedBy.user.id)
| extend InitiatingIPAddress = tostring(InitiatedBy.user.ipAddress)
| extend TargetUserPrincipalName = TargetResources[0].userPrincipalName
| extend TargetAadUserId = tostring(TargetResources[0].id)
| extend mod_props = TargetResources[0].modifiedProperties

Stage 5: `mv-expand`

| mv-expand mod_props

Stage 6: `where`

| where mod_props.displayName =~ "Application.DisplayName"

Stage 7: `extend` (5 consecutive steps)

| extend TargetAppName = tostring(parse_json(tostring(mod_props.newValue)))
| extend AddedUser = TargetUserPrincipalName
| extend UpdatedBy = iif(isnotempty(InitiatingAppName), InitiatingAppName, InitiatingUserPrincipalName)
| extend InitiatingAccountName = tostring(split(InitiatingUserPrincipalName, "@")[0]), InitiatingAccountUPNSuffix = tostring(split(InitiatingUserPrincipalName, "@")[1])
| extend TargetAccountName = tostring(split(TargetUserPrincipalName, "@")[0]), TargetAccountUPNSuffix = tostring(split(TargetUserPrincipalName, "@")[1])

Stage 8: `project-reorder`

| project-reorder TimeGenerated, InitiatingAppName, InitiatingAppServicePrincipalId, InitiatingAadUserId, InitiatingUserPrincipalName, InitiatingIPAddress, TargetAppName, AddedUser, UpdatedBy

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
`Category`	eq	`ApplicationManagement`
`OperationName`	eq	`Add owner to application`
`displayName`	eq	`Application.DisplayName`

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
`InitiatingAppName`	`extend`
`InitiatingAppServicePrincipalId`	`extend`
`InitiatingUserPrincipalName`	`extend`
`InitiatingAadUserId`	`extend`
`InitiatingIPAddress`	`extend`
`TargetUserPrincipalName`	`extend`
`TargetAadUserId`	`extend`
`mod_props`	`extend`
`TargetAppName`	`extend`
`AddedUser`	`extend`
`UpdatedBy`	`extend`
`InitiatingAccountName`	`extend`
`InitiatingAccountUPNSuffix`	`extend`
`TargetAccountName`	`extend`
`TargetAccountUPNSuffix`	`extend`

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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)

Changes to Application Ownership

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rules detecting the same action

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `extend` (8 consecutive steps)

Stage 5: `mv-expand`

Stage 6: `where`

Stage 7: `extend` (5 consecutive steps)

Stage 8: `project-reorder`

Indicators

Output fields

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Changes to Application Ownership

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rules detecting the same action

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: source

Stage 2: where

Stage 3: where

Stage 4: extend (8 consecutive steps)

Stage 5: mv-expand

Stage 6: where

Stage 7: extend (5 consecutive steps)

Stage 8: project-reorder

Indicators

Output fields

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `extend` (8 consecutive steps)

Stage 5: `mv-expand`

Stage 6: `where`

Stage 7: `extend` (5 consecutive steps)

Stage 8: `project-reorder`