Azure Policy Violation Detected

Status: Experimental
Severity: informational
Log types: Azure.MonitorActivity
Reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/governance/policy/overview
Source: github.com/panther-labs/panther-analysis

Detects when an Azure resource is found to be non-compliant with assigned Azure Policies. Policy violations indicate that resources do not meet organizational compliance requirements for security, networking, encryption, or other governance controls. Repeated violations may indicate configuration drift or potential security misconfigurations.

Rules detecting the same action

Other rules on this platform that filter on the same API call or operation.

Changes to Device Registration Policy (Sigma)
User Risk and MFA Registration Policy Updated (Sigma)

Rule body yaml

AnalysisType: rule
Filename: azure_policy_violation.py
RuleID: "Azure.MonitorActivity.Policy.Violation"
DisplayName: "Azure Policy Violation Detected"
Enabled: true
LogTypes:
  - Azure.MonitorActivity
Severity: Info
Status: Experimental
Description: >
  Detects when an Azure resource is found to be non-compliant with assigned Azure Policies.
  Policy violations indicate that resources do not meet organizational compliance requirements
  for security, networking, encryption, or other governance controls. Repeated violations
  may indicate configuration drift or potential security misconfigurations.
Runbook: |
  1. Query Azure Monitor Activity logs for all configuration changes to the resource ID in the 48 hours before the policy violation to identify what triggered the non-compliance
  2. Find all policy violations for the same resource ID in the past 30 days to determine if this is an isolated incident or pattern of configuration drift
  3. Check for other policy violations with the same policy definition name across all resources in the past 7 days to identify broader compliance issues
Reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/governance/policy/overview
SummaryAttributes:
  - properties.entity
  - callerIpAddress
  - correlationId
Tests:
  - Name: Storage Account Policy Violation
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      {
        "time": "2025-12-22T10:30:00.0000000Z",
        "resourceId": "/subscriptions/12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789abc/resourceGroups/storage-rg/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/mystorage",
        "operationName": "MICROSOFT.AUTHORIZATION/POLICIES/AUDIT/ACTION",
        "operationVersion": "2021-06-01",
        "category": "Policy",
        "resultType": "Success",
        "callerIpAddress": "1.1.1.1",
        "correlationId": "a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890",
        "level": "Warning",
        "location": "eastus",
        "properties": {
          "entity": "/subscriptions/12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789abc/resourceGroups/storage-rg/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/mystorage",
          "eventCategory": "Policy",
          "isComplianceCheck": "False",
          "message": "Microsoft.Authorization/policies/audit/action",
          "policies": "[{\"policyDefinitionId\":\"/providers/Microsoft.Authorization/policyDefinitions/2a1a9cdf-e04d-429a-8416-3bfb72a1b26f\",\"policySetDefinitionId\":\"/providers/Microsoft.Authorization/policySetDefinitions/1f3afdf9-d0c9-4c3d-847f-89da613e70a8\",\"policyDefinitionReferenceId\":\"storageAccountsShouldRestrictNetworkAccessUsingVirtualNetworkRulesMonitoringEffect\",\"policySetDefinitionName\":\"1f3afdf9-d0c9-4c3d-847f-89da613e70a8\",\"policySetDefinitionDisplayName\":\"Microsoft cloud security benchmark\",\"policyDefinitionName\":\"2a1a9cdf-e04d-429a-8416-3bfb72a1b26f\",\"policyDefinitionDisplayName\":\"Storage accounts should restrict network access using virtual network rules\",\"policyDefinitionEffect\":\"Audit\",\"policyAssignmentId\":\"/subscriptions/12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789abc/providers/Microsoft.Authorization/policyAssignments/SecurityCenterBuiltIn\",\"policyAssignmentName\":\"SecurityCenterBuiltIn\",\"policyAssignmentDisplayName\":\"ASC Default\"}]",
          "resourceLocation": "westus2"
        },
        "tenantId": "87654321-4321-4321-4321-111111111111"
      }
  - Name: Shared Key Access Policy Violation
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      {
        "time": "2025-12-22T11:15:00.0000000Z",
        "resourceId": "/subscriptions/11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111/resourceGroups/prod-rg/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/prodstorage",
        "operationName": "microsoft.authorization/policies/audit/action",
        "category": "Policy",
        "resultType": "Success",
        "callerIpAddress": "1.2.3.4",
        "correlationId": "b2c3d4e5-f6a7-8901-bcde-f23456789012",
        "level": "Warning",
        "location": "westeurope",
        "properties": {
          "entity": "/subscriptions/11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111/resourceGroups/prod-rg/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/prodstorage",
          "eventCategory": "Policy",
          "isComplianceCheck": "True",
          "message": "Microsoft.Authorization/policies/audit/action",
          "policies": "[{\"policyDefinitionDisplayName\":\"Storage accounts should prevent shared key access\",\"policySetDefinitionDisplayName\":\"Microsoft cloud security benchmark\",\"policyDefinitionEffect\":\"Audit\",\"policyAssignmentDisplayName\":\"ASC Default\"}]",
          "resourceLocation": "westeurope"
        },
        "tenantId": "22222222-2222-2222-2222-222222222222"
      }
  - Name: AuditIfNotExists Policy Violation
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      {
        "time": "2025-12-22T12:00:00.0000000Z",
        "resourceId": "/subscriptions/33333333-3333-3333-3333-333333333333/resourceGroups/network-rg/providers/Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks/myvnet",
        "operationName": "MICROSOFT.AUTHORIZATION/POLICIES/AUDITIFNOTEXISTS/ACTION",
        "category": "Policy",
        "resultType": "Success",
        "callerIpAddress": "2.2.2.2",
        "correlationId": "c3d4e5f6-a7b8-9012-cdef-333333333333",
        "level": "Warning",
        "location": "centralus",
        "properties": {
          "entity": "/subscriptions/33333333-3333-3333-3333-333333333333/resourceGroups/network-rg/providers/Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks/myvnet",
          "eventCategory": "Policy",
          "isComplianceCheck": "False",
          "message": "Microsoft.Authorization/policies/auditifnotexists/action",
          "policies": "[{\"policyDefinitionDisplayName\":\"Network Watcher should be enabled\",\"policyDefinitionEffect\":\"AuditIfNotExists\"}]",
          "resourceLocation": "centralus"
        },
        "tenantId": "33333333-3333-3333-3333-333333333333"
      }
  - Name: Different Category
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      {
        "time": "2025-12-22T14:00:00.0000000Z",
        "resourceId": "/subscriptions/55555555-5555-5555-5555-555555555555/resourceGroups/admin-rg/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/adminstorage",
        "operationName": "MICROSOFT.STORAGE/STORAGEACCOUNTS/WRITE",
        "category": "Administrative",
        "resultType": "Success",
        "callerIpAddress": "1.2.3.4",
        "correlationId": "e5f6a7b8-c9d0-1234-ef01-111111111111",
        "level": "Information",
        "tenantId": "55555555-5555-5555-5555-555555555555"
      }

Detection logic

Condition

operationName in ["MICROSOFT.AUTHORIZATION/POLICIES/AUDIT/ACTION", "MICROSOFT.AUTHORIZATION/POLICIES/AUDITIFNOTEXISTS/ACTION"]
category eq "Policy"
level eq "Warning"

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	`Policy`
`level`	eq	`Warning`
`operationName`	in	`MICROSOFT.AUTHORIZATION/POLICIES/AUDIT/ACTION` `MICROSOFT.AUTHORIZATION/POLICIES/AUDITIFNOTEXISTS/ACTION`

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
`entity`	`properties.entity`

`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)