Detection rules › Kusto
First access credential added to Application or Service Principal where no credential was present
This will alert when an admin or app owner account adds a new credential to an Application or Service Principal where there was no previous verify KeyCredential associated. If a threat actor obtains access to an account with sufficient privileges and adds the alternate authentication material triggering this event, the threat actor can now authenticate as the Application or Service Principal using this credential. Additional information on OAuth Credential Grants can be found in RFC 6749 Section 4.4 or https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/active-directory/develop/v2-oauth2-client-creds-grant-flow For further information on AuditLogs please see https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/active-directory/reports-monitoring/reference-audit-activities.
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Lateral Movement | T1550.001 Use Alternate Authentication Material: Application Access Token |
Event coverage
| Provider | Event | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Entra-AuditLogs | _catch_all | Entra ID audit event (any operation) |
Rule body kusto
id: 2cfc3c6e-f424-4b88-9cc9-c89f482d016a
name: First access credential added to Application or Service Principal where no credential was present
description: |
'This will alert when an admin or app owner account adds a new credential to an Application or Service Principal where there was no previous verify KeyCredential associated.
If a threat actor obtains access to an account with sufficient privileges and adds the alternate authentication material triggering this event, the threat actor can now authenticate as the Application or Service Principal using this credential.
Additional information on OAuth Credential Grants can be found in RFC 6749 Section 4.4 or https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/active-directory/develop/v2-oauth2-client-creds-grant-flow
For further information on AuditLogs please see https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/active-directory/reports-monitoring/reference-audit-activities.'
severity: High
requiredDataConnectors:
- connectorId: AzureActiveDirectory
dataTypes:
- AuditLogs
queryFrequency: 1h
queryPeriod: 1h
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
status: Available
tactics:
- DefenseEvasion
relevantTechniques:
- T1550.001
tags:
- Solorigate
- NOBELIUM
query: |
AuditLogs
| where OperationName has ("Certificates and secrets management")
| where Result =~ "success"
| where tostring(InitiatedBy.user.userPrincipalName) has "@" or tostring(InitiatedBy.app.displayName) has "@"
| mv-apply TargetResource = TargetResources on
(
where TargetResource.type =~ "Application"
| extend targetDisplayName = tostring(TargetResource.displayName),
targetId = tostring(TargetResource.id),
targetType = tostring(TargetResource.type),
keyEvents = TargetResource.modifiedProperties
)
| mv-apply Property = keyEvents on
(
where Property.displayName =~ "KeyDescription"
| extend new_value_set = parse_json(tostring(Property.newValue)),
old_value_set = parse_json(tostring(Property.oldValue))
)
| where old_value_set == "[]"
| mv-expand new_value_set
| parse new_value_set with * "KeyIdentifier=" keyIdentifier:string ",KeyType=" keyType:string ",KeyUsage=" keyUsage:string ",DisplayName=" keyDisplayName:string "]" *
| where keyUsage =~ "Verify"
| mv-apply AdditionalDetail = AdditionalDetails on
(
where AdditionalDetail.key =~ "User-Agent"
| extend InitiatingUserAgent = tostring(AdditionalDetail.value)
)
| project-away new_value_set, old_value_set, TargetResource, Property, AdditionalDetail
| 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(iff(isnotempty(InitiatedBy.user.ipAddress), InitiatedBy.user.ipAddress, InitiatedBy.app.ipAddress))
| project-reorder TimeGenerated, OperationName, InitiatingUserPrincipalName, InitiatingAadUserId, InitiatingAppName, InitiatingAppServicePrincipalId, InitiatingIpAddress, InitiatingUserAgent,
targetDisplayName, targetId, targetType, keyDisplayName, keyType, keyUsage, keyIdentifier, CorrelationId, TenantId
| extend Name = split(InitiatingUserPrincipalName, "@")[0], UPNSuffix = split(InitiatingUserPrincipalName, "@")[1]
entityMappings:
- entityType: Account
fieldMappings:
- identifier: FullName
columnName: InitiatingUserPrincipalName
- identifier: Name
columnName: Name
- identifier: UPNSuffix
columnName: UPNSuffix
- entityType: Account
fieldMappings:
- identifier: AadUserId
columnName: InitiatingAadUserId
- entityType: Account
fieldMappings:
- identifier: AadUserId
columnName: InitiatingAppServicePrincipalId
- entityType: IP
fieldMappings:
- identifier: Address
columnName: InitiatingIpAddress
- entityType: CloudApplication
fieldMappings:
- identifier: Name
columnName: targetDisplayName
version: 1.1.5
kind: Scheduled
Stages and Predicates
Stage 1: source
AuditLogs
Stage 2: where
| where OperationName has ("Certificates and secrets management")
Stage 3: where
| where Result =~ "success"
Stage 4: where
| where tostring(InitiatedBy.user.userPrincipalName) has "@" or tostring(InitiatedBy.app.displayName) has "@"
Stage 5: kusto:mv-apply
| mv-apply TargetResource = TargetResources on
(
where TargetResource.type =~ "Application"
| extend targetDisplayName = tostring(TargetResource.displayName),
targetId = tostring(TargetResource.id),
targetType = tostring(TargetResource.type),
keyEvents = TargetResource.modifiedProperties
)
Stage 6: kusto:mv-apply
| mv-apply Property = keyEvents on
(
where Property.displayName =~ "KeyDescription"
| extend new_value_set = parse_json(tostring(Property.newValue)),
old_value_set = parse_json(tostring(Property.oldValue))
)
Stage 7: where
| where old_value_set == "[]"
Stage 8: mv-expand
| mv-expand new_value_set
Stage 9: parse
| parse new_value_set with * "KeyIdentifier=" keyIdentifier:string ",KeyType=" keyType:string ",KeyUsage=" keyUsage:string ",DisplayName=" keyDisplayName:string "]" *
Stage 10: where
| where keyUsage =~ "Verify"
Stage 11: kusto:mv-apply
| mv-apply AdditionalDetail = AdditionalDetails on
(
where AdditionalDetail.key =~ "User-Agent"
| extend InitiatingUserAgent = tostring(AdditionalDetail.value)
)
Stage 12: project-away
| project-away new_value_set, old_value_set, TargetResource, Property, AdditionalDetail
Stage 13: extend (5 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(iff(isnotempty(InitiatedBy.user.ipAddress), InitiatedBy.user.ipAddress, InitiatedBy.app.ipAddress))
Stage 14: project-reorder
| project-reorder TimeGenerated, OperationName, InitiatingUserPrincipalName, InitiatingAadUserId, InitiatingAppName, InitiatingAppServicePrincipalId, InitiatingIpAddress, InitiatingUserAgent,
targetDisplayName, targetId, targetType, keyDisplayName, keyType, keyUsage, keyIdentifier, CorrelationId, TenantId
Stage 15: extend
| extend Name = split(InitiatingUserPrincipalName, "@")[0], UPNSuffix = 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 |
|---|---|---|
OperationName | match |
|
Result | eq |
|
displayName | eq |
|
displayName | match |
|
key | eq |
|
keyUsage | eq |
|
old_value_set | eq |
|
type | eq |
|
userPrincipalName | match |
|
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 |
Name | extend |
UPNSuffix | extend |