Admin Role Assigned

Severity: medium
Log types: Asana.Audit, Atlassian.Audit, GCP.AuditLog, GitHub.Audit, GSuite.ActivityEvent, OneLogin.Events, Zendesk.Audit
Tags: DataModel, Privilege Escalation:Valid Accounts
Reference: https://medium.com/@gokulelango1040/privilege-escalation-attacks-28a9ef226abb
Source: github.com/panther-labs/panther-analysis

Assigning an admin role manually could be a sign of privilege escalation

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Privilege Escalation	`T1078` Valid Accounts

Rule body yaml

AnalysisType: rule
Filename: admin_assigned.py
RuleID: "Standard.AdminRoleAssigned"
DisplayName: "Admin Role Assigned"
Enabled: true
LogTypes:
  - Asana.Audit
  - Atlassian.Audit
  - GCP.AuditLog
  - GitHub.Audit
  - GSuite.ActivityEvent
  - OneLogin.Events
  - Zendesk.Audit
Tags:
  - DataModel
  - Privilege Escalation:Valid Accounts
Severity: Medium
Reports:
  MITRE ATT&CK:
    - TA0004:T1078
Description: Assigning an admin role manually could be a sign of privilege escalation
Runbook: Verify with the user who attached the role or add to a allowlist
Reference: https://medium.com/@gokulelango1040/privilege-escalation-attacks-28a9ef226abb
SummaryAttributes:
  - p_any_ip_addresses
Tests:
  - Name: GCP - Admin Assigned
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      {
        "protoPayload":
          {
            "at_sign_type": "type.googleapis.com/google.cloud.audit.AuditLog",
            "serviceName": "cloudresourcemanager.googleapis.com",
            "methodName": "SetIamPolicy",
            "authenticationInfo": { "principalEmail": "bob@example.com" },
            "requestMetadata": { "callerIP": "4.4.4.4" },
            "serviceData":
              {
                "@type": "type.googleapis.com/google.iam.v1.logging.AuditData",
                "policyDelta":
                  {
                    "bindingDeltas":
                      [
                        {
                          "action": "ADD",
                          "member": "cat@example.com",
                          "role": "roles/resourcemanager.organizationAdmin",
                        },
                      ],
                  },
              },
          },
        "p_log_type": "GCP.AuditLog",
      }
  - Name: GCP - Multiple Admin Roles Assigned
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      {
        "protoPayload":
          {
            "at_sign_type": "type.googleapis.com/google.cloud.audit.AuditLog",
            "serviceName": "cloudresourcemanager.googleapis.com",
            "methodName": "SetIamPolicy",
            "authenticationInfo": { "principalEmail": "bob@example.com" },
            "requestMetadata": { "callerIP": "4.4.4.4" },
            "serviceData":
              {
                "@type": "type.googleapis.com/google.iam.v1.logging.AuditData",
                "policyDelta":
                  {
                    "bindingDeltas":
                      [
                        {
                          "action": "ADD",
                          "member": "cat@example.com",
                          "role": "roles/resourcemanager.organizationAdmin",
                        },
                        {
                          "action": "ADD",
                          "member": "dog@example.com",
                          "role": "roles/owner",
                        },
                      ],
                  },
              },
          },
        "p_log_type": "GCP.AuditLog",
      }
  - Name: GSuite - Other Admin Action
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      {
        "actor": { "email": "bobert@example.com" },
        "id": { "applicationName": "admin" },
        "type": "DELEGATED_ADMIN_SETTINGS",
        "name": "RENAME_ROLE",
        "p_log_type": "GSuite.ActivityEvent",
      }
  - Name: GSuite - Privileges Assigned
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      {
        "actor": { "email": "bobert@example.com" },
        "id": { "applicationName": "admin" },
        "type": "DELEGATED_ADMIN_SETTINGS",
        "name": "ASSIGN_ROLE",
        "parameters":
          {
            "ROLE_NAME": "Some Admin Role",
            "USER_EMAIL": "bob@example.com",
          },
        "p_log_type": "GSuite.ActivityEvent",
      }
  - Name: OneLogin - Non permissions assigned event
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log: { "event_type_id": 8, "p_log_type": "OneLogin.Events" }
  - Name: OneLogin - Non super user permissions assigned
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      {
        "event_type_id": 72,
        "privilege_name": "Manage users",
        "p_log_type": "OneLogin.Events",
      }
  - Name: OneLogin - Super user permissions assigned
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      {
        "event_type_id": 72,
        "privilege_name": "Super user",
        "user_name": "Evil Bob",
        "actor_user_name": "Bobert O'Bobly",
        "p_log_type": "OneLogin.Events",
      }
  - Name: Github - User Promoted
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      {
        "actor": "cat",
        "action": "team.promote_maintainer",
        "p_log_type": "GitHub.Audit",
        "user": "bob",
      }
  - Name: Github - Admin Added
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      {
        "actor": "cat",
        "action": "business.add_admin",
        "p_log_type": "GitHub.Audit",
        "user": "bob",
      }
  - Name: Github - Admin Invited
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      {
        "actor": "cat",
        "action": "business.invite_admin",
        "p_log_type": "GitHub.Audit",
        "user": "bob",
      }
  - Name: Github - Unknown Admin Role
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      {
        "actor": "cat",
        "action": "unknown.admin_role",
        "p_log_type": "GitHub.Audit",
        "user": "bob",
      }
  - Name: Zendesk - Admin Role Downgraded
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      {
        "url": "https://myzendek.zendesk.com/api/v2/audit_logs/111222333444.json",
        "id": 123456789123,
        "action_label": "Updated",
        "actor_id": 123,
        "source_id": 123,
        "source_type": "user",
        "source_label": "Bob Cat",
        "action": "update",
        "change_description": "Role changed from Administrator to End User",
        "ip_address": "127.0.0.1",
        "created_at": "2021-05-28T18:39:50Z",
        "p_log_type": "Zendesk.Audit",
      }
  - Name: Zendesk - Admin Role Assigned
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      {
        "url": "https://myzendek.zendesk.com/api/v2/audit_logs/111222333444.json",
        "id": 123456789123,
        "action_label": "Updated",
        "actor_id": 123,
        "source_id": 123,
        "source_type": "user",
        "source_label": "Bob Cat",
        "action": "update",
        "change_description": "Role changed from End User to Administrator",
        "ip_address": "127.0.0.1",
        "created_at": "2021-05-28T18:39:50Z",
        "p_log_type": "Zendesk.Audit",
      }
  - Name: Zendesk - App Admin Role Assigned
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      {
        "url": "https://myzendek.zendesk.com/api/v2/audit_logs/111222333444.json",
        "id": 123456789123,
        "action_label": "Updated",
        "actor_id": 123,
        "source_id": 123,
        "source_type": "user",
        "source_label": "Bob Cat",
        "action": "update",
        "change_description": "Explore role changed from not set to Admin\nGuide role changed from not set to Admin\nSupport role changed from not set to Admin\nTalk role changed from not set to Admin",
        "ip_address": "127.0.0.1",
        "created_at": "2021-05-28T18:39:50Z",
        "p_log_type": "Zendesk.Audit",
      }
  - Name: Asana - Normal Login
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      {
        "actor":
          {
            "actor_type": "user",
            "email": "homer@springfield.com",
            "gid": "2222222",
            "name": "Homer",
          },
        "context": { "client_ip_address": "8.8.8.8", "context_type": "web" },
        "created_at": "2021-10-21T23:38:10.364Z",
        "details": { "method": ["ONE_TIME_KEY"] },
        "event_category": "logins",
        "event_type": "user_login_succeeded",
        "gid": "222222222",
        "resource":
          {
            "email": "homer@springfield.com",
            "gid": "2222222",
            "name": "homer",
            "resource_type": "user",
          },
        "p_log_type": "Asana.Audit",
        "p_parse_time": "2021-06-04 10:02:33.650807",
        "p_event_time": "2021-06-04 09:59:53.650807",
      }

  - Name: Asana - Admin Added
    ExpectedResult: True
    Log:
      {
        "actor": { "actor_type": "user", "name": Homer },
        "context": { "client_ip_address": "1.1.1.1", "context_type": "web" },
        "created_at": "2021-10-21T23:38:18.319Z",
        "details":
          {
            "group":
              {
                "gid": "11111",
                "name": "1183399881404774.2lgxga.asanatest1.us",
                "resource_type": "workspace",
              },
            "new_value": "member",
            "old_value": "super_admin",
          },
        "event_category": "roles",
        "event_type": "user_workspace_admin_role_changed",
        "gid": "22222",
        "resource":
          {
            "email": "marge@springfield.com",
            "gid": "222222",
            "name": "Marge Simpson",
            "resource_type": "user",
          },
        "p_log_type": "Asana.Audit",
      }

Detection logic

Condition

event_type eq "admin_role_assigned"

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
`event_type`	eq	`admin_role_assigned`

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
`ips`	`p_any_ip_addresses`
`actor`	`actor_user`
`user`
`p_log_type`
`assigned_admin_role`

`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)