User added to Microsoft Entra ID Privileged Groups

Status: available
Severity: medium
Time window: 1h
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 eligible member to role
Entra-AuditLogs	Add member to role

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: 4d94d4a9-dc96-410a-8dea-4d4d4584188b
name: 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
requiredDataConnectors:
  - connectorId: AzureActiveDirectory
    dataTypes:
      - AuditLogs
queryFrequency: 1h
queryPeriod: 1h
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
status: Available
tactics:
  - Persistence
  - PrivilegeEscalation
relevantTechniques:
  - T1098
  - T1078
tags:
  - DEV-0537
query: |
  let OperationList = dynamic(["Add member to role","Add eligible member to role"]);
  let PrivilegedGroups = dynamic(["UserAccountAdmins","PrivilegedRoleAdmins","TenantAdmins","PrivilegedAuthenticationAdmins"]);
  AuditLogs
  | where Category =~ "RoleManagement"
  | where OperationName in~ (OperationList)
  | mv-apply TargetResource = TargetResources on 
    (
        where TargetResource.type =~ "User"
        | extend TargetUserPrincipalName = tostring(TargetResource.userPrincipalName),
                 modProps = TargetResource.modifiedProperties
    )
  | mv-apply Property = modProps on 
    (
        where Property.displayName =~ "Role.WellKnownObjectName"
        | extend DisplayName = trim('"',tostring(Property.displayName)),
                 GroupName = trim('"',tostring(Property.newValue))
    )
  | extend InitiatingAppId = InitiatedBy.app.appId
  | extend InitiatingAppName = tostring(InitiatedBy.app.displayName)
  | extend InitiatingAppServicePrincipalId = tostring(InitiatedBy.app.servicePrincipalId)
  | extend InitiatingAppServicePrincipalName = tostring(InitiatedBy.app.servicePrincipalName)
  | 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))
  | extend InitiatingUserRoles = InitiatedBy.user.roles
  | where GroupName in~ (PrivilegedGroups)
  // If you don't want to alert for operations from PIM, remove below filtering for MS-PIM.
  //| where InitiatingAppName != "MS-PIM" and InitiatingAppName != "MS-PIM-Fairfax"
  | project TimeGenerated, AADOperationType, Category, OperationName, AADTenantId, InitiatingUserPrincipalName, InitiatingAadUserId, InitiatingAppId, InitiatingAppName, InitiatingAppServicePrincipalName, InitiatingAppServicePrincipalId, InitiatingIpAddress, DisplayName, GroupName, InitiatingUserRoles, TargetUserPrincipalName
  | extend AccountName = tostring(split(InitiatingUserPrincipalName,'@',0)[0]), AccountUPNSuffix = tostring(split(InitiatingUserPrincipalName,'@',1)[0])
  | extend TargetName = tostring(split(TargetUserPrincipalName,'@',0)[0]), TargetUPNSuffix = tostring(split(TargetUserPrincipalName,'@',1)[0])
entityMappings:
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: InitiatingUserPrincipalName   
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: AccountName      
      - identifier: UPNSuffix
        columnName: AccountUPNSuffix
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: TargetUserPrincipalName   
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: TargetName      
      - identifier: UPNSuffix
        columnName: TargetUPNSuffix
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: AadUserId
        columnName: InitiatingAadUserId
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: AadUserId
        columnName: InitiatingAppServicePrincipalId
  - entityType: IP
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: Address
        columnName: InitiatingIpAddress
version: 1.0.7
kind: Scheduled

Stages and Predicates

Parameters

let OperationList = dynamic(["Add member to role","Add eligible member to role"]);
let PrivilegedGroups = dynamic(["UserAccountAdmins","PrivilegedRoleAdmins","TenantAdmins","PrivilegedAuthenticationAdmins"]);

Stage 1: `source`

AuditLogs

Stage 2: `where`

| where Category =~ "RoleManagement"

Stage 3: `where`

| where OperationName in~ (OperationList)

Stage 4: `kusto:mv-apply`

| mv-apply TargetResource = TargetResources on 
  (
      where TargetResource.type =~ "User"
      | extend TargetUserPrincipalName = tostring(TargetResource.userPrincipalName),
               modProps = TargetResource.modifiedProperties
  )

Stage 5: `kusto:mv-apply`

| mv-apply Property = modProps on 
  (
      where Property.displayName =~ "Role.WellKnownObjectName"
      | extend DisplayName = trim('"',tostring(Property.displayName)),
               GroupName = trim('"',tostring(Property.newValue))
  )

Stage 6: `extend` (8 consecutive steps)

| extend InitiatingAppId = InitiatedBy.app.appId
| extend InitiatingAppName = tostring(InitiatedBy.app.displayName)
| extend InitiatingAppServicePrincipalId = tostring(InitiatedBy.app.servicePrincipalId)
| extend InitiatingAppServicePrincipalName = tostring(InitiatedBy.app.servicePrincipalName)
| 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))
| extend InitiatingUserRoles = InitiatedBy.user.roles

Stage 7: `where`

| where GroupName in~ (PrivilegedGroups)

Stage 8: `project`

| project TimeGenerated, AADOperationType, Category, OperationName, AADTenantId, InitiatingUserPrincipalName, InitiatingAadUserId, InitiatingAppId, InitiatingAppName, InitiatingAppServicePrincipalName, InitiatingAppServicePrincipalId, InitiatingIpAddress, DisplayName, GroupName, InitiatingUserRoles, TargetUserPrincipalName

Stage 9: `extend`

| extend AccountName = tostring(split(InitiatingUserPrincipalName,'@',0)[0]), AccountUPNSuffix = tostring(split(InitiatingUserPrincipalName,'@',1)[0])

Stage 10: `extend`

| extend TargetName = tostring(split(TargetUserPrincipalName,'@',0)[0]), TargetUPNSuffix = tostring(split(TargetUserPrincipalName,'@',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
`Category`	eq	`RoleManagement`
`GroupName`	in	`PrivilegedAuthenticationAdmins` `PrivilegedRoleAdmins` `TenantAdmins` `UserAccountAdmins`
`OperationName`	in	`Add eligible member to role` `Add member to role`
`displayName`	eq	`Role.WellKnownObjectName`
`type`	eq	`User`

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`
`Category`	`project`
`DisplayName`	`project`
`GroupName`	`project`
`InitiatingAadUserId`	`project`
`InitiatingAppId`	`project`
`InitiatingAppName`	`project`
`InitiatingAppServicePrincipalId`	`project`
`InitiatingAppServicePrincipalName`	`project`
`InitiatingIpAddress`	`project`
`InitiatingUserPrincipalName`	`project`
`InitiatingUserRoles`	`project`
`OperationName`	`project`
`TargetUserPrincipalName`	`project`
`TimeGenerated`	`project`
`AccountName`	`extend`
`AccountUPNSuffix`	`extend`
`TargetName`	`extend`
`TargetUPNSuffix`	`extend`

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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)

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: `kusto:mv-apply`

Stage 5: `kusto:mv-apply`

Stage 6: `extend` (8 consecutive steps)

Stage 7: `where`

Stage 8: `project`

Stage 9: `extend`

Stage 10: `extend`

Indicators

Output fields

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

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: kusto:mv-apply

Stage 5: kusto:mv-apply

Stage 6: extend (8 consecutive steps)

Stage 7: where

Stage 8: project

Stage 9: extend

Stage 10: extend

Indicators

Output fields

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `kusto:mv-apply`

Stage 5: `kusto:mv-apply`

Stage 6: `extend` (8 consecutive steps)

Stage 7: `where`

Stage 8: `project`

Stage 9: `extend`

Stage 10: `extend`