Detection rules › Kusto
NRT New access credential added to Application or Service Principal
This will alert when an admin or app owner account adds a new credential to an Application or Service Principal where a verify KeyCredential was already present for the app. 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 Use Alternate Authentication Material |
Event coverage
| Provider | Event | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Entra-AuditLogs | _catch_all | Entra ID audit event (any operation) |
Rule body kusto
id: e42e889a-caaf-4dbb-aec6-371b37d64298
name: NRT New access credential added to Application or Service Principal
description: |
'This will alert when an admin or app owner account adds a new credential to an Application or Service Principal where a verify KeyCredential was already present for the app.
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: Medium
status: Available
requiredDataConnectors:
- connectorId: AzureActiveDirectory
dataTypes:
- AuditLogs
tactics:
- DefenseEvasion
relevantTechniques:
- T1550
tags:
- Solorigate
- NOBELIUM
query: |
AuditLogs
| where OperationName has_any ("Add service principal", "Certificates and secrets management") // captures "Add service principal", "Add service principal credentials", and "Update application - Certificates and secrets management" events
| 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 != "[]"
| extend diff = set_difference(new_value_set, old_value_set)
| where diff != "[]"
| parse diff 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 UserAgent = tostring(AdditionalDetail.value)
)
| 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))
// The below line is currently commented out but Microsoft Sentinel users can modify this query to show only Application or only Service Principal events in their environment
//| where targetType =~ "Application" // or targetType =~ "ServicePrincipal"
| project-away diff, new_value_set, old_value_set
| project-reorder TimeGenerated, OperationName, InitiatingUserPrincipalName, InitiatingAadUserId, InitiatingAppName, InitiatingAppServicePrincipalId, InitiatingIpAddress, UserAgent, targetDisplayName, targetId, targetType, keyDisplayName, keyType, keyUsage, keyIdentifier, CorrelationId, TenantId
| extend InitiatedByName = tostring(split(InitiatingUserPrincipalName,'@',0)[0]), InitiatedByUPNSuffix = tostring(split(InitiatingUserPrincipalName,'@',1)[0])
entityMappings:
- entityType: Account
fieldMappings:
- identifier: FullName
columnName: InitiatingUserPrincipalName
- identifier: Name
columnName: InitiatedByName
- identifier: UPNSuffix
columnName: InitiatedByUPNSuffix
- entityType: Account
fieldMappings:
- identifier: AadUserId
columnName: InitiatingAadUserId
- entityType: Account
fieldMappings:
- identifier: Name
columnName: InitiatingAppName
- identifier: AadUserId
columnName: InitiatingAppServicePrincipalId
- entityType: IP
fieldMappings:
- identifier: Address
columnName: InitiatingIpAddress
version: 1.0.5
kind: NRT
Stages and Predicates
Stage 1: source
AuditLogs
Stage 2: where
| where OperationName has_any ("Add service principal", "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: extend
| extend diff = set_difference(new_value_set, old_value_set)
Stage 9: where
| where diff != "[]"
Stage 10: parse
| parse diff with * "KeyIdentifier=" keyIdentifier:string ",KeyType=" keyType:string ",KeyUsage=" keyUsage:string ",DisplayName=" keyDisplayName:string "]" *
Stage 11: where
| where keyUsage =~ "Verify"
Stage 12: kusto:mv-apply
| mv-apply AdditionalDetail = AdditionalDetails on
(
where AdditionalDetail.key =~ "User-Agent"
| extend UserAgent = tostring(AdditionalDetail.value)
)
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-away
| project-away diff, new_value_set, old_value_set
Stage 15: project-reorder
| project-reorder TimeGenerated, OperationName, InitiatingUserPrincipalName, InitiatingAadUserId, InitiatingAppName, InitiatingAppServicePrincipalId, InitiatingIpAddress, UserAgent, targetDisplayName, targetId, targetType, keyDisplayName, keyType, keyUsage, keyIdentifier, CorrelationId, TenantId
Stage 16: extend
| extend InitiatedByName = tostring(split(InitiatingUserPrincipalName,'@',0)[0]), InitiatedByUPNSuffix = tostring(split(InitiatingUserPrincipalName,'@',1)[0])
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 |
|
diff | ne |
|
displayName | eq |
|
displayName | match |
|
key | eq |
|
keyUsage | eq |
|
old_value_set | ne |
|
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 |
InitiatedByName | extend |
InitiatedByUPNSuffix | extend |