Threat Essentials - User Assigned Privileged Role

Status: available
Severity: high
Time window: 1h
Group by: Initiator, OperationName, Result, RoleName, Target
Source: github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel

Identifies when a new privileged role is assigned to a user. Any account eligible for a role is now being given privileged access. If the assignment is unexpected or into a role that isn't the responsibility of the account holder, investigate. Ref : https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/active-directory/fundamentals/security-operations-privileged-accounts#things-to-monitor-1

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Persistence	`T1078.004` Valid Accounts: Cloud Accounts

Event coverage

Provider	Event	Title
Entra-AuditLogs	_catch_all	Entra ID audit event (any operation)

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: b09795c9-8dce-47ab-8f75-5a4afb78ef0c
name: Threat Essentials - User Assigned Privileged Role
description: |
  'Identifies when a new privileged role is assigned to a user.  Any account eligible for a role is now being given privileged access. If the assignment is unexpected or into a role that isn't the responsibility of the account holder, investigate.
  Ref : https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/active-directory/fundamentals/security-operations-privileged-accounts#things-to-monitor-1'
severity: High
status: Available
requiredDataConnectors:
  - connectorId: AzureActiveDirectory
    dataTypes:
      - AuditLogs
queryFrequency: 2h
queryPeriod: 2h
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
tactics:
  - Persistence
relevantTechniques:
  - T1078.004
tags:
  - AADSecOpsGuide
query: |
  AuditLogs
  | where Category =~ "RoleManagement"
  | where AADOperationType in~ ("Assign", "AssignEligibleRole")
  | where ActivityDisplayName has_any ("Add eligible member to role", "Add member to role")
  | mv-expand TargetResources
  | mv-expand TargetResources.modifiedProperties
  | extend displayName_ = tostring(TargetResources_modifiedProperties.displayName)
  | where displayName_ =~ "Role.DisplayName"
  | extend RoleName = tostring(parse_json(tostring(TargetResources_modifiedProperties.newValue)))
  | where RoleName contains "Admin"
  | extend InitiatingApp = tostring(parse_json(tostring(InitiatedBy.app)).displayName)
  | extend Initiator = iif(isnotempty(InitiatingApp), InitiatingApp, tostring(parse_json(tostring(InitiatedBy.user)).userPrincipalName))
  | extend Target = tostring(TargetResources.userPrincipalName)
  | summarize by bin(TimeGenerated, 1h), OperationName,  RoleName, Target, Initiator, Result
  | extend InitiatorName=split(Initiator, "@")[0], InitiatorUPNSuffix=split(Initiator, "@")[1]
  | extend TargetName=split(Target, "@")[0], TargetUPNSuffix=split(Target, "@")[1]
entityMappings:
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: InitiatorName
      - identifier: UPNSuffix
        columnName: InitiatorUPNSuffix
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: TargetName
      - identifier: UPNSuffix
        columnName: TargetUPNSuffix
version: 1.0.3
kind: Scheduled

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `source`

AuditLogs

Stage 2: `where`

| where Category =~ "RoleManagement"

Stage 3: `where`

| where AADOperationType in~ ("Assign", "AssignEligibleRole")

Stage 4: `where`

| where ActivityDisplayName has_any ("Add eligible member to role", "Add member to role")

Stage 5: `mv-expand`

| mv-expand TargetResources

Stage 6: `mv-expand`

| mv-expand TargetResources.modifiedProperties

Stage 7: `extend`

| extend displayName_ = tostring(TargetResources_modifiedProperties.displayName)

Stage 8: `where`

| where displayName_ =~ "Role.DisplayName"

Stage 9: `extend`

| extend RoleName = tostring(parse_json(tostring(TargetResources_modifiedProperties.newValue)))

Stage 10: `where`

| where RoleName contains "Admin"

Stage 11: `extend` (3 consecutive steps)

| extend InitiatingApp = tostring(parse_json(tostring(InitiatedBy.app)).displayName)
| extend Initiator = iif(isnotempty(InitiatingApp), InitiatingApp, tostring(parse_json(tostring(InitiatedBy.user)).userPrincipalName))
| extend Target = tostring(TargetResources.userPrincipalName)

Stage 12: `summarize`

| summarize by bin(TimeGenerated, 1h), OperationName,  RoleName, Target, Initiator, Result

Stage 13: `extend`

| extend InitiatorName=split(Initiator, "@")[0], InitiatorUPNSuffix=split(Initiator, "@")[1]

Stage 14: `extend`

| extend TargetName=split(Target, "@")[0], TargetUPNSuffix=split(Target, "@")[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
`AADOperationType`	in	`Assign` `AssignEligibleRole`
`ActivityDisplayName`	match	`Add eligible member to role` `Add member to role`
`Category`	eq	`RoleManagement`
`RoleName`	contains	`Admin`
`displayName_`	eq	`Role.DisplayName`

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
`Initiator`	`summarize`
`OperationName`	`summarize`
`Result`	`summarize`
`RoleName`	`summarize`
`Target`	`summarize`
`InitiatorName`	`extend`
`InitiatorUPNSuffix`	`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
`?`	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)

Threat Essentials - User Assigned Privileged Role

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rules detecting the same action

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `where`

Stage 5: `mv-expand`

Stage 6: `mv-expand`

Stage 7: `extend`

Stage 8: `where`

Stage 9: `extend`

Stage 10: `where`

Stage 11: `extend` (3 consecutive steps)

Stage 12: `summarize`

Stage 13: `extend`

Stage 14: `extend`

Indicators

Output fields

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Threat Essentials - User Assigned Privileged Role

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rules detecting the same action

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: source

Stage 2: where

Stage 3: where

Stage 4: where

Stage 5: mv-expand

Stage 6: mv-expand

Stage 7: extend

Stage 8: where

Stage 9: extend

Stage 10: where

Stage 11: extend (3 consecutive steps)

Stage 12: summarize

Stage 13: extend

Stage 14: extend

Indicators

Output fields

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `where`

Stage 5: `mv-expand`

Stage 6: `mv-expand`

Stage 7: `extend`

Stage 8: `where`

Stage 9: `extend`

Stage 10: `where`

Stage 11: `extend` (3 consecutive steps)

Stage 12: `summarize`

Stage 13: `extend`

Stage 14: `extend`