Firmware Updates (Microsoft Defender for IoT)

Status: available
Severity: medium
Time window: 1h
Source: github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel

'This alert leverages Defender for IoT to detect unauthorized firmware updates that may indicate malicious activity on the network such as a cyber threat that attempts to manipulate PLC firmware to compromise PLC function.'

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Persistence	`T0857` System Firmware
Inhibit Response Function	`T0857` System Firmware

Rule body kusto

id: 7cad4b66-5e83-4756-8de4-f21315ab1e77
name: Firmware Updates (Microsoft Defender for IoT)
description: |
  'This alert leverages Defender for IoT to detect unauthorized firmware updates that may indicate malicious activity on the network such as a cyber threat that attempts to manipulate PLC firmware to compromise PLC function.'
severity: Medium
status: Available
requiredDataConnectors:
  - connectorId: IoT
    dataTypes:
      - SecurityAlert (ASC for IoT)
queryFrequency: 1h
queryPeriod: 1h
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
tactics:
  - Persistence
relevantTechniques:
  - T0857
query: |
  SecurityAlert
  | where ProviderName == "IoTSecurity"
  | where AlertName has_any ("Beckhoff Software Changed", "Firmware Version Changed", "Firmware Change", "Firmware Changed", "Firmware Update")
  | extend ExtendedProperties = parse_json(ExtendedProperties)
  | where tostring(ExtendedProperties.isNew) == "True"
  | extend DeviceId = tostring(ExtendedProperties.DeviceId), 
           SourceDeviceAddress = tostring(ExtendedProperties.SourceDeviceAddress), 
           DestDeviceAddress = tostring(ExtendedProperties.DestinationDeviceAddress), 
           RemediationSteps = tostring(parse_json(RemediationSteps)[0]), 
           Protocol = tostring(ExtendedProperties.Protocol), 
           AlertManagementUri = tostring(ExtendedProperties.AlertManagementUri)
  | project
    TimeGenerated,
    DeviceId,
    ProductName,
    ProductComponentName,
    AlertSeverity,
    AlertName,
    Description,
    Protocol,
    SourceDeviceAddress,
    DestDeviceAddress,
    RemediationSteps,
    Tactics,
    Entities,
    VendorOriginalId,
    AlertLink,
    AlertManagementUri,
    Techniques
entityMappings:
sentinelEntitiesMappings:
  - columnName: Entities
eventGroupingSettings:
  aggregationKind: AlertPerResult
customDetails:
  Sensor: DeviceId
  Protocol: Protocol
  VendorOriginalId: VendorOriginalId
  AlertManagementUri: AlertManagementUri
alertDetailsOverride:
  alertDisplayNameFormat: (MDIoT) {{AlertName}}
  alertDescriptionFormat: (MDIoT) {{Description}}
  alertTacticsColumnName: Tactics
  alertSeverityColumnName: AlertSeverity
  alertDynamicProperties: 
    - alertProperty: ProductName
      value: ProductName
    - alertProperty: RemediationSteps
      value: RemediationSteps
    - alertProperty: Techniques
      value: Techniques
    - alertProperty: ProductComponentName
      value: ProductComponentName
    - alertProperty: AlertLink
      value: AlertLink
version: 1.0.3
kind: Scheduled

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `source`

SecurityAlert

Stage 2: `where`

| where ProviderName == "IoTSecurity"

Stage 3: `where`

| where AlertName has_any ("Beckhoff Software Changed", "Firmware Version Changed", "Firmware Change", "Firmware Changed", "Firmware Update")

Stage 4: `extend`

| extend ExtendedProperties = parse_json(ExtendedProperties)

Stage 5: `where`

| where tostring(ExtendedProperties.isNew) == "True"

Stage 6: `extend`

| extend DeviceId = tostring(ExtendedProperties.DeviceId), 
         SourceDeviceAddress = tostring(ExtendedProperties.SourceDeviceAddress), 
         DestDeviceAddress = tostring(ExtendedProperties.DestinationDeviceAddress), 
         RemediationSteps = tostring(parse_json(RemediationSteps)[0]), 
         Protocol = tostring(ExtendedProperties.Protocol), 
         AlertManagementUri = tostring(ExtendedProperties.AlertManagementUri)

Stage 7: `project`

| project
  TimeGenerated,
  DeviceId,
  ProductName,
  ProductComponentName,
  AlertSeverity,
  AlertName,
  Description,
  Protocol,
  SourceDeviceAddress,
  DestDeviceAddress,
  RemediationSteps,
  Tactics,
  Entities,
  VendorOriginalId,
  AlertLink,
  AlertManagementUri,
  Techniques

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
`AlertName`	match	`Beckhoff Software Changed` `Firmware Change` `Firmware Changed` `Firmware Update` `Firmware Version Changed`
`ProviderName`	eq	`IoTSecurity` transforms: `cased` corpus 15 (kusto 15)
`isNew`	eq	`True` transforms: `tostring`, `cased` corpus 15 (kusto 15)

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
`AlertLink`	`project`
`AlertManagementUri`	`project`
`AlertName`	`project`
`AlertSeverity`	`project`
`Description`	`project`
`DestDeviceAddress`	`project`
`DeviceId`	`project`
`Entities`	`project`
`ProductComponentName`	`project`
`ProductName`	`project`
`Protocol`	`project`
`RemediationSteps`	`project`
`SourceDeviceAddress`	`project`
`Tactics`	`project`
`Techniques`	`project`
`TimeGenerated`	`project`
`VendorOriginalId`	`project`

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`d` / `u`	Half-page down / up
`gg` / `G`	Top / bottom
`h` / `l`	History back / forward
`f`	Follow link (`Shift` = new tab)
`/`	Focus search
`?`	Toggle this help
`↑` / `↓`	Navigate search results
`Enter`	Open highlighted result
`Esc`	Close results / dialog

`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)

Firmware Updates (Microsoft Defender for IoT)

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `extend`

Stage 5: `where`

Stage 6: `extend`

Stage 7: `project`

Indicators

Output fields

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Firmware Updates (Microsoft Defender for IoT)

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: source

Stage 2: where

Stage 3: where

Stage 4: extend

Stage 5: where

Stage 6: extend

Stage 7: project

Indicators

Output fields

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `extend`

Stage 5: `where`

Stage 6: `extend`

Stage 7: `project`