Threat Essentials - NRT User added to Microsoft Entra ID Privileged Groups

Status: available
Severity: medium
Time window: 14d
Source: github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel

This will alert when a user is added to any of the Privileged Groups. For further information on AuditLogs please see https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/active-directory/reports-monitoring/reference-audit-activities. For Administrator role permissions in Microsoft Entra ID please see https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/active-directory/users-groups-roles/directory-assign-admin-roles

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
Entra-AuditLogs	Add member to role
Entra-AuditLogs	Add member to role in PIM requested (permanent)

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)
Detect PIM Alert Disabling activity (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)

Rule body kusto

id: 0a627f29-f0dd-4924-be92-c3d6dac84367
name: Threat Essentials - NRT User added to Microsoft Entra ID Privileged Groups
description: |
  'This will alert when a user is added to any of the Privileged Groups.
  For further information on AuditLogs please see https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/active-directory/reports-monitoring/reference-audit-activities.
  For Administrator role permissions in Microsoft Entra ID please see https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/active-directory/users-groups-roles/directory-assign-admin-roles'
severity: Medium
status: Available
requiredDataConnectors:
  - connectorId: AzureActiveDirectory
    dataTypes:
      - AuditLogs
queryFrequency: 1d
queryPeriod: 14d
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0     
tactics:
  - Persistence
  - PrivilegeEscalation
relevantTechniques:
  - T1098
  - T1078
tags:
  - DEV-0537
query: |
  let OperationList = dynamic(["Add member to role","Add member to role in PIM requested (permanent)"]);
  let PrivilegedGroups = dynamic(["UserAccountAdmins","PrivilegedRoleAdmins","TenantAdmins"]);
  AuditLogs
  //| where LoggedByService =~ "Core Directory"
  | where Category =~ "RoleManagement"
  | where OperationName in~ (OperationList)
  | mv-expand TargetResources
  | extend modProps = parse_json(TargetResources).modifiedProperties
  | mv-expand bagexpansion=array modProps
  | evaluate bag_unpack(modProps)
  | extend displayName = column_ifexists("displayName", "NotAvailable"), newValue = column_ifexists("newValue", "NotAvailable")
  | where displayName =~ "Role.WellKnownObjectName"
  | extend DisplayName = displayName, GroupName = replace('"','',newValue)
  | extend initByApp = parse_json(InitiatedBy).app, initByUser = parse_json(InitiatedBy).user
  | extend AppId = initByApp.appId,
  InitiatedByDisplayName = case(isnotempty(initByApp.displayName), initByApp.displayName, isnotempty(initByUser.displayName), initByUser.displayName, "not available"),
  ServicePrincipalId = tostring(initByApp.servicePrincipalId),
  ServicePrincipalName = tostring(initByApp.servicePrincipalName),
  UserId = initByUser.id,
  UserIPAddress = initByUser.ipAddress,
  UserRoles = initByUser.roles,
  UserPrincipalName = tostring(initByUser.userPrincipalName),
  TargetUserPrincipalName = tostring(TargetResources.userPrincipalName)
  | where GroupName in~ (PrivilegedGroups)
  // If you don't want to alert for operations from PIM, remove below filtering for MS-PIM.
  //| where InitiatedByDisplayName != "MS-PIM" and InitiatedByDisplayName != "MS-PIM-Fairfax"
  | project TimeGenerated, AADOperationType, Category, OperationName, AADTenantId, AppId, InitiatedByDisplayName, ServicePrincipalId, ServicePrincipalName, DisplayName, GroupName, UserId, UserIPAddress, UserRoles, UserPrincipalName, TargetUserPrincipalName
  | extend InitiatorAccount = case(isnotempty(ServicePrincipalName), ServicePrincipalName, isnotempty(ServicePrincipalId), ServicePrincipalId, isnotempty(UserPrincipalName), UserPrincipalName, "not available")
  | extend InitiatorName = iif(InitiatorAccount has '@',tostring(split(InitiatorAccount,'@',0)[0]),"")
  | extend InitiatorUPNSuffix = iif(InitiatorAccount has '@',tostring(split(InitiatorAccount,'@',1)[0]),"")
  | extend InitiatorAadUserId = iif(InitiatorAccount !has '@',InitiatorAccount,"")
  | extend TargetName = iif(TargetUserPrincipalName has '@',tostring(split(TargetUserPrincipalName,'@',0)[0]),"")
  | extend TargetUPNSuffix = iif(TargetUserPrincipalName has '@',tostring(split(TargetUserPrincipalName,'@',1)[0]),"")
entityMappings:
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: InitiatorName
      - identifier: UPNSuffix
        columnName: InitiatorUPNSuffix
      - identifier: AadUserId
        columnName: InitiatorAadUserId
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: TargetName
      - identifier: UPNSuffix
        columnName: TargetUPNSuffix
version: 1.0.4
kind: NRT

Stages and Predicates

Parameters

let OperationList = dynamic(["Add member to role","Add member to role in PIM requested (permanent)"]);
let PrivilegedGroups = dynamic(["UserAccountAdmins","PrivilegedRoleAdmins","TenantAdmins"]);

Stage 1: `source`

AuditLogs

Stage 2: `where`

| where Category =~ "RoleManagement"

Stage 3: `where`

| where OperationName in~ (OperationList)

Stage 4: `mv-expand`

| mv-expand TargetResources

Stage 5: `extend`

| extend modProps = parse_json(TargetResources).modifiedProperties

Stage 6: `mv-expand`

| mv-expand bagexpansion=array modProps

Stage 7: `evaluate`

| evaluate bag_unpack(modProps)

Stage 8: `extend`

| extend displayName = column_ifexists("displayName", "NotAvailable"), newValue = column_ifexists("newValue", "NotAvailable")

Stage 9: `where`

| where displayName =~ "Role.WellKnownObjectName"

Stage 10: `extend` (3 consecutive steps)

| extend DisplayName = displayName, GroupName = replace('"','',newValue)
| extend initByApp = parse_json(InitiatedBy).app, initByUser = parse_json(InitiatedBy).user
| extend AppId = initByApp.appId,
InitiatedByDisplayName = case(isnotempty(initByApp.displayName), initByApp.displayName, isnotempty(initByUser.displayName), initByUser.displayName, "not available"),
ServicePrincipalId = tostring(initByApp.servicePrincipalId),
ServicePrincipalName = tostring(initByApp.servicePrincipalName),
UserId = initByUser.id,
UserIPAddress = initByUser.ipAddress,
UserRoles = initByUser.roles,
UserPrincipalName = tostring(initByUser.userPrincipalName),
TargetUserPrincipalName = tostring(TargetResources.userPrincipalName)

Stage 11: `where`

| where GroupName in~ (PrivilegedGroups)

Stage 12: `project`

| project TimeGenerated, AADOperationType, Category, OperationName, AADTenantId, AppId, InitiatedByDisplayName, ServicePrincipalId, ServicePrincipalName, DisplayName, GroupName, UserId, UserIPAddress, UserRoles, UserPrincipalName, TargetUserPrincipalName

Stage 13: `extend` (6 consecutive steps)

| extend InitiatorAccount = case(isnotempty(ServicePrincipalName), ServicePrincipalName, isnotempty(ServicePrincipalId), ServicePrincipalId, isnotempty(UserPrincipalName), UserPrincipalName, "not available")
| extend InitiatorName = iif(InitiatorAccount has '@',tostring(split(InitiatorAccount,'@',0)[0]),"")
| extend InitiatorUPNSuffix = iif(InitiatorAccount has '@',tostring(split(InitiatorAccount,'@',1)[0]),"")
| extend InitiatorAadUserId = iif(InitiatorAccount !has '@',InitiatorAccount,"")
| extend TargetName = iif(TargetUserPrincipalName has '@',tostring(split(TargetUserPrincipalName,'@',0)[0]),"")
| extend TargetUPNSuffix = iif(TargetUserPrincipalName has '@',tostring(split(TargetUserPrincipalName,'@',1)[0]),"")

InitiatorAccount =

ifisnotempty(ServicePrincipalName)ServicePrincipalName

elifisnotempty(ServicePrincipalId)ServicePrincipalId

elifisnotempty(UserPrincipalName)UserPrincipalName

else"not available"

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
`Category`	eq	`RoleManagement`
`GroupName`	in	`PrivilegedRoleAdmins` `TenantAdmins` `UserAccountAdmins`
`OperationName`	in	`Add member to role` `Add member to role in PIM requested (permanent)`
`displayName`	eq	`Role.WellKnownObjectName`

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`
`AppId`	`project`
`Category`	`project`
`DisplayName`	`project`
`GroupName`	`project`
`InitiatedByDisplayName`	`project`
`OperationName`	`project`
`ServicePrincipalId`	`project`
`ServicePrincipalName`	`project`
`TargetUserPrincipalName`	`project`
`TimeGenerated`	`project`
`UserIPAddress`	`project`
`UserId`	`project`
`UserPrincipalName`	`project`
`UserRoles`	`project`
`InitiatorAccount`	`extend`
`InitiatorName`	`extend`
`InitiatorUPNSuffix`	`extend`
`InitiatorAadUserId`	`extend`
`TargetName`	`extend`
`TargetUPNSuffix`	`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
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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)

Threat Essentials - NRT User added to Microsoft Entra ID Privileged Groups

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rules detecting the same action

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Parameters

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `mv-expand`

Stage 5: `extend`

Stage 6: `mv-expand`

Stage 7: `evaluate`

Stage 8: `extend`

Stage 9: `where`

Stage 10: `extend` (3 consecutive steps)

Stage 11: `where`

Stage 12: `project`

Stage 13: `extend` (6 consecutive steps)

Indicators

Output fields

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Threat Essentials - NRT User added to Microsoft Entra ID Privileged Groups

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rules detecting the same action

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Parameters

Stage 1: source

Stage 2: where

Stage 3: where

Stage 4: mv-expand

Stage 5: extend

Stage 6: mv-expand

Stage 7: evaluate

Stage 8: extend

Stage 9: where

Stage 10: extend (3 consecutive steps)

Stage 11: where

Stage 12: project

Stage 13: extend (6 consecutive steps)

Indicators

Output fields

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `mv-expand`

Stage 5: `extend`

Stage 6: `mv-expand`

Stage 7: `evaluate`

Stage 8: `extend`

Stage 9: `where`

Stage 10: `extend` (3 consecutive steps)

Stage 11: `where`

Stage 12: `project`

Stage 13: `extend` (6 consecutive steps)