Rare subscription-level operations in Azure

Status: available
Severity: low
Time window: 1d
Group by: Caller, CallerIpAddress, OperationNameValue
Source: github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel

This query looks for a few sensitive subscription-level events based on Azure Activity Logs. For example, this monitors for the operation name 'Create or Update Snapshot', which is used for creating backups but could be misused by attackers to dump hashes or extract sensitive information from the disk.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Persistence	`T1098` Account Manipulation
Credential Access	`T1003` OS Credential Dumping

Event coverage

Provider	Event
Azure-Microsoft.Compute	Microsoft.Compute/snapshots/write
Azure-Microsoft.Network	Microsoft.Network/networkSecurityGroups/write
Azure-Microsoft.Storage	Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/listKeys/action

Rule body kusto

id: 23de46ea-c425-4a77-b456-511ae4855d69
name: Rare subscription-level operations in Azure
description: |
  'This query looks for a few sensitive subscription-level events based on Azure Activity Logs. For example, this monitors for the operation name 'Create or Update Snapshot', which is used for creating backups but could be misused by attackers to dump hashes or extract sensitive information from the disk.'
severity: Low
status: Available
requiredDataConnectors:
  - connectorId: AzureActivity
    dataTypes:
      - AzureActivity
queryFrequency: 1d
queryPeriod: 14d
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
tactics:
  - CredentialAccess
  - Persistence
relevantTechniques:
  - T1003
  - T1098
query: |
  let starttime = 14d;
  let endtime = 1d;
  // The number of operations above which an IP address is considered an unusual source of role assignment operations
  let alertOperationThreshold = 5;
  // Add or remove operation names below as per your requirements. For operations lists, please refer to https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/Azure/role-based-access-control/resource-provider-operations#all
  let SensitiveOperationList =  dynamic(["microsoft.compute/snapshots/write", "microsoft.network/networksecuritygroups/write", "microsoft.storage/storageaccounts/listkeys/action"]);
  let SensitiveActivity = AzureActivity
  | where OperationNameValue in~ (SensitiveOperationList) or OperationNameValue hassuffix "listkeys/action"
  | where ActivityStatusValue =~ "Success";
  SensitiveActivity
  | where TimeGenerated between (ago(starttime) .. ago(endtime))
  | summarize count() by CallerIpAddress, Caller, OperationNameValue, bin(TimeGenerated,1d)
  | where count_ >= alertOperationThreshold
  // Returns all the records from the right side that don't have matches from the left
  | join kind = rightanti (
  SensitiveActivity
  | where TimeGenerated >= ago(endtime)
  | summarize StartTimeUtc = min(TimeGenerated), EndTimeUtc = max(TimeGenerated), ActivityTimeStamp = make_list(TimeGenerated), ActivityStatusValue = make_list(ActivityStatusValue), CorrelationIds = make_list(CorrelationId), ResourceGroups = make_list(ResourceGroup), ResourceIds = make_list(_ResourceId), ActivityCountByCallerIPAddress = count()
  by CallerIpAddress, Caller, OperationNameValue
  | where ActivityCountByCallerIPAddress >= alertOperationThreshold
  ) on CallerIpAddress, Caller, OperationNameValue
  | extend Name = tostring(split(Caller,'@',0)[0]), UPNSuffix = tostring(split(Caller,'@',1)[0])
entityMappings:
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: Caller
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: Name
      - identifier: UPNSuffix
        columnName: UPNSuffix
  - entityType: IP
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: Address
        columnName: CallerIpAddress
version: 2.0.3
kind: Scheduled

Stages and Predicates

Parameters

let starttime = 14d;
let endtime = 1d;
let alertOperationThreshold = 5;
let SensitiveOperationList = dynamic(["microsoft.compute/snapshots/write", "microsoft.network/networksecuritygroups/write", "microsoft.storage/storageaccounts/listkeys/action"]);

The stages below define let SensitiveActivity (the rule's main pipeline source).

Stage 1: `source`

AzureActivity

Stage 2: `where`

| where OperationNameValue in~ (SensitiveOperationList) or OperationNameValue hassuffix "listkeys/action"

Stage 3: `where`

| where ActivityStatusValue =~ "Success"

The stages below run on SensitiveActivity (the outer pipeline).

Stage 4: `where`

SensitiveActivity
| where TimeGenerated between (ago(starttime) .. ago(endtime))

Stage 5: `summarize`

| summarize count() by CallerIpAddress, Caller, OperationNameValue, bin(TimeGenerated,1d)

Stage 6: `where`

| where count_ >= alertOperationThreshold

Stage 7: `join` (negated)

| join kind = rightanti (
SensitiveActivity
| where TimeGenerated >= ago(endtime)
| summarize StartTimeUtc = min(TimeGenerated), EndTimeUtc = max(TimeGenerated), ActivityTimeStamp = make_list(TimeGenerated), ActivityStatusValue = make_list(ActivityStatusValue), CorrelationIds = make_list(CorrelationId), ResourceGroups = make_list(ResourceGroup), ResourceIds = make_list(_ResourceId), ActivityCountByCallerIPAddress = count()
by CallerIpAddress, Caller, OperationNameValue
| where ActivityCountByCallerIPAddress >= alertOperationThreshold
) on CallerIpAddress, Caller, OperationNameValue

Stage 8: `extend`

| extend Name = tostring(split(Caller,'@',0)[0]), UPNSuffix = tostring(split(Caller,'@',1)[0])

Exclusions

Top-level NOT(...) conjuncts: predicates this rule actively suppresses.

Field	Kind	Excluded values
`OperationNameValue`	ends_with	`listkeys/action`
`OperationNameValue`	in	`microsoft.compute/snapshots/write`, `microsoft.network/networksecuritygroups/write`, `microsoft.storage/storageaccounts/listkeys/action`
`ActivityCountByCallerIPAddress`	ge	`5`
`ActivityStatusValue`	eq	`Success`

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
`ActivityStatusValue`	eq	`Success`
`OperationNameValue`	ends_with	`listkeys/action`
`OperationNameValue`	in	`microsoft.compute/snapshots/write` `microsoft.network/networksecuritygroups/write` `microsoft.storage/storageaccounts/listkeys/action`
`count_`	ge	`5` transforms: `cased`

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
`Caller`	`summarize`
`CallerIpAddress`	`summarize`
`OperationNameValue`	`summarize`
`Name`	`extend`
`UPNSuffix`	`extend`

`j` / `k`	Scroll down / up
`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)

Rare subscription-level operations in Azure

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Parameters

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `where`

Stage 5: `summarize`

Stage 6: `where`

Stage 7: `join` (negated)

Stage 8: `extend`

Exclusions

Indicators

Output fields

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Rare subscription-level operations in Azure

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Parameters

Stage 1: source

Stage 2: where

Stage 3: where

Stage 4: where

Stage 5: summarize

Stage 6: where

Stage 7: join (negated)

Stage 8: extend

Exclusions

Indicators

Output fields

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `where`

Stage 5: `summarize`

Stage 6: `where`

Stage 7: `join` (negated)

Stage 8: `extend`