Detect PIM Alert Disabling activity

Severity: medium
Time window: 1d
Author: Microsoft Security Research
Source: github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel

Privileged Identity Management (PIM) generates alerts when there is suspicious or unsafe activity in Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) organization. This query will help detect attackers attempts to disable in product PIM alerts which are associated with Azure MFA requirements and could indicate activation of privileged access

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Persistence	`T1078` Valid Accounts, `T1098` Account Manipulation
Privilege Escalation	`T1078` Valid Accounts, `T1098` Account Manipulation

Event coverage

Provider	Event	Title
Entra-AuditLogs	_catch_all	Entra ID audit event (any operation)

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)
Bulk Changes to Privileged Account Permissions (Kusto)
Changes to PIM Settings (Kusto)
Multiple admin membership removals from newly created admin. (Kusto)
New External User Granted Admin Role (Kusto)
NRT Privileged Role Assigned Outside PIM (Kusto)
NRT User added to Microsoft Entra ID Privileged Groups (Kusto)
Power Platform - Account added to privileged Microsoft Entra roles (Kusto)

Rule body kusto

id: 1f3b4dfd-21ff-4ed3-8e27-afc219e05c50
name: Detect PIM Alert Disabling activity
description: |
  'Privileged Identity Management (PIM) generates alerts when there is suspicious or unsafe activity in Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) organization. 
  This query will help detect attackers attempts to disable in product PIM alerts which are associated with Azure MFA requirements and could indicate activation of privileged access'
severity: Medium
requiredDataConnectors:
  - connectorId: AzureActiveDirectory
    dataTypes:
      - AuditLogs
queryFrequency: 1d
queryPeriod: 1d
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
tactics:
  - Persistence
  - PrivilegeEscalation
relevantTechniques:
  - T1098
  - T1078
query: |
  AuditLogs
  | where LoggedByService =~ "PIM"
  | where Category =~ "RoleManagement"
  | where ActivityDisplayName has "Disable PIM Alert"
  | extend IpAddress = case(
    isnotempty(tostring(parse_json(tostring(InitiatedBy.user)).ipAddress)) and tostring(parse_json(tostring(InitiatedBy.user)).ipAddress) != 'null', tostring(parse_json(tostring(InitiatedBy.user)).ipAddress), 
    isnotempty(tostring(parse_json(tostring(InitiatedBy.app)).ipAddress)) and tostring(parse_json(tostring(InitiatedBy.app)).ipAddress) != 'null', tostring(parse_json(tostring(InitiatedBy.app)).ipAddress),
    'Not Available')
  | extend InitiatedBy = iff(isnotempty(tostring(parse_json(tostring(InitiatedBy.user)).userPrincipalName)), 
    tostring(parse_json(tostring(InitiatedBy.user)).userPrincipalName), tostring(parse_json(tostring(InitiatedBy.app)).displayName)), UserRoles = tostring(parse_json(tostring(InitiatedBy.user)).ipAddress)
  | project InitiatedBy, ActivityDateTime, ActivityDisplayName, IpAddress, AADOperationType, AADTenantId, ResourceId, CorrelationId, Identity
  | extend AccountName = tostring(split(InitiatedBy, "@")[0]), AccountUPNSuffix = tostring(split(InitiatedBy, "@")[1])
entityMappings:
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: InitiatedBy
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: AccountName
      - identifier: UPNSuffix
        columnName: AccountUPNSuffix
  - entityType: IP
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: Address
        columnName: IpAddress
  - entityType: AzureResource
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: ResourceId
        columnName: ResourceId
version: 1.0.4
kind: Scheduled
metadata:
    source:
        kind: Community
    author:
        name: Microsoft Security Research
    support:
        tier: Community
    categories:
        domains: [ "Security - Others", "Identity" ]

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `source`

AuditLogs

Stage 2: `where`

| where LoggedByService =~ "PIM"

Stage 3: `where`

| where Category =~ "RoleManagement"

Stage 4: `where`

| where ActivityDisplayName has "Disable PIM Alert"

Stage 5: `extend`

| extend IpAddress = case(
  isnotempty(tostring(parse_json(tostring(InitiatedBy.user)).ipAddress)) and tostring(parse_json(tostring(InitiatedBy.user)).ipAddress) != 'null', tostring(parse_json(tostring(InitiatedBy.user)).ipAddress), 
  isnotempty(tostring(parse_json(tostring(InitiatedBy.app)).ipAddress)) and tostring(parse_json(tostring(InitiatedBy.app)).ipAddress) != 'null', tostring(parse_json(tostring(InitiatedBy.app)).ipAddress),
  'Not Available')

IpAddress =

ifipAddress != "null"tostring(parse_json(tostring(InitiatedBy.user)).ipAddress)

elifipAddress != "null"tostring(parse_json(tostring(InitiatedBy.app)).ipAddress)

else'Not Available'

Stage 6: `extend`

| extend InitiatedBy = iff(isnotempty(tostring(parse_json(tostring(InitiatedBy.user)).userPrincipalName)), 
  tostring(parse_json(tostring(InitiatedBy.user)).userPrincipalName), tostring(parse_json(tostring(InitiatedBy.app)).displayName)), UserRoles = tostring(parse_json(tostring(InitiatedBy.user)).ipAddress)

InitiatedBy =

if/* macro: isnotempty(tostring(parse_json(tostring(InitiatedBy.user)).userPrincipalName)) */tostring(parse_json(tostring(InitiatedBy.user)).userPrincipalName)

elsetostring(parse_json(tostring(InitiatedBy.app)).displayName)

Stage 7: `project`

| project InitiatedBy, ActivityDateTime, ActivityDisplayName, IpAddress, AADOperationType, AADTenantId, ResourceId, CorrelationId, Identity

Stage 8: `extend`

| extend AccountName = tostring(split(InitiatedBy, "@")[0]), AccountUPNSuffix = tostring(split(InitiatedBy, "@")[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`	match	`Disable PIM Alert` transforms: `term`
`Category`	eq	`RoleManagement`
`LoggedByService`	eq	`PIM`

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
`AADOperationType`	`project`
`AADTenantId`	`project`
`ActivityDateTime`	`project`
`ActivityDisplayName`	`project`
`CorrelationId`	`project`
`Identity`	`project`
`InitiatedBy`	`project`
`IpAddress`	`project`
`ResourceId`	`project`
`AccountName`	`extend`
`AccountUPNSuffix`	`extend`

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`f`	Follow link (`Shift` = new tab)
`/`	Focus search
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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)

Detect PIM Alert Disabling activity

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: `where`

Stage 5: `extend`

Stage 6: `extend`

Stage 7: `project`

Stage 8: `extend`

Indicators

Output fields

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Detect PIM Alert Disabling activity

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: where

Stage 5: extend

Stage 6: extend

Stage 7: project

Stage 8: extend

Indicators

Output fields

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `where`

Stage 5: `extend`

Stage 6: `extend`

Stage 7: `project`

Stage 8: `extend`