Exchange AuditLog Disabled

Status: available
Severity: medium
Time window: 1d
Group by: AdminAuditLogEnabledValue, ClientIP, Operation, Parameters, ResultStatus, UserId, UserType
Source: github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel

Identifies when the exchange audit logging has been disabled which may be an adversary attempt to evade detection or avoid other defenses.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Stealth	`T1562` Impair Defenses

Event coverage

Provider	Event
M365-ExchangeAdmin	Set-AdminAuditLogConfig

Rule body kusto

id: 194dd92e-d6e7-4249-85a5-273350a7f5ce
name: Exchange AuditLog Disabled
description: |
  'Identifies when the exchange audit logging has been disabled which may be an adversary attempt to evade detection or avoid other defenses.'
severity: Medium
status: Available
requiredDataConnectors:
  - connectorId: Office365
    dataTypes:
      - OfficeActivity (Exchange)
queryFrequency: 1d
queryPeriod: 1d
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
tactics:
  - DefenseEvasion
relevantTechniques:
  - T1562
query: |
  OfficeActivity
  | where OfficeWorkload =~ "Exchange" 
  | where UserType in~ ("Admin","DcAdmin")
  // Only admin or global-admin can disable audit logging
  | where Operation =~ "Set-AdminAuditLogConfig"
  | extend AdminAuditLogEnabledValue = tostring(parse_json(tostring(parse_json(tostring(array_slice(parse_json(Parameters),3,3)))[0])).Value)
  | where AdminAuditLogEnabledValue =~ "False"
  | summarize StartTimeUtc = min(TimeGenerated), EndTimeUtc = max(TimeGenerated), OperationCount = count() by Operation, UserType, UserId, ClientIP, ResultStatus, Parameters, AdminAuditLogEnabledValue
  | extend AccountName = iff(UserId contains '@', tostring(split(UserId, '@')[0]), UserId)
  | extend AccountUPNSuffix = iff(UserId contains '@', tostring(split(UserId, '@')[1]), '')
  | extend AccountName = iff(UserId contains '\\', tostring(split(UserId, '\\')[1]), AccountName)
  | extend AccountNTDomain = iff(UserId contains '\\', tostring(split(UserId, '\\')[0]), '')
entityMappings:
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: FullName
        columnName: UserId
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: AccountName
      - identifier: UPNSuffix
        columnName: AccountUPNSuffix
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: AccountNTDomain
  - entityType: IP
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: Address
        columnName: ClientIP
version: 2.0.6
kind: Scheduled

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `source`

OfficeActivity

Stage 2: `where`

| where OfficeWorkload =~ "Exchange"

Stage 3: `where`

| where UserType in~ ("Admin","DcAdmin")

Stage 4: `where`

| where Operation =~ "Set-AdminAuditLogConfig"

Stage 5: `extend`

| extend AdminAuditLogEnabledValue = tostring(parse_json(tostring(parse_json(tostring(array_slice(parse_json(Parameters),3,3)))[0])).Value)

Stage 6: `where`

| where AdminAuditLogEnabledValue =~ "False"

Stage 7: `summarize`

| summarize StartTimeUtc = min(TimeGenerated), EndTimeUtc = max(TimeGenerated), OperationCount = count() by Operation, UserType, UserId, ClientIP, ResultStatus, Parameters, AdminAuditLogEnabledValue

Stage 8: `extend` (4 consecutive steps)

| extend AccountName = iff(UserId contains '@', tostring(split(UserId, '@')[0]), UserId)
| extend AccountUPNSuffix = iff(UserId contains '@', tostring(split(UserId, '@')[1]), '')
| extend AccountName = iff(UserId contains '\\', tostring(split(UserId, '\\')[1]), AccountName)
| extend AccountNTDomain = iff(UserId contains '\\', tostring(split(UserId, '\\')[0]), '')

AccountName =

ifUserId contains "@"tostring(split(UserId, '@')[0])

elseUserId

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
`AdminAuditLogEnabledValue`	eq	`False`
`OfficeWorkload`	eq	`Exchange`
`Operation`	eq	`Set-AdminAuditLogConfig`
`UserType`	in	`Admin` `DcAdmin`

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
`AdminAuditLogEnabledValue`	`summarize`
`ClientIP`	`summarize`
`EndTimeUtc`	`summarize`
`Operation`	`summarize`
`OperationCount`	`summarize`
`Parameters`	`summarize`
`ResultStatus`	`summarize`
`StartTimeUtc`	`summarize`
`UserId`	`summarize`
`UserType`	`summarize`
`AccountName`	`extend`
`AccountUPNSuffix`	`extend`
`AccountNTDomain`	`extend`

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`/`	Focus search
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`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)

Exchange AuditLog Disabled

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `where`

Stage 5: `extend`

Stage 6: `where`

Stage 7: `summarize`

Stage 8: `extend` (4 consecutive steps)

Indicators

Output fields

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Exchange AuditLog Disabled

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: source

Stage 2: where

Stage 3: where

Stage 4: where

Stage 5: extend

Stage 6: where

Stage 7: summarize

Stage 8: extend (4 consecutive steps)

Indicators

Output fields

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `where`

Stage 4: `where`

Stage 5: `extend`

Stage 6: `where`

Stage 7: `summarize`

Stage 8: `extend` (4 consecutive steps)