Detection rules › Panther

Databricks Account-Level Configuration Changes

Status
Experimental
Severity
informational
Group by
actionName, serviceName
Log types
Databricks.Audit
Tags
Databricks, Persistence
Reference
https://github.com/databricks-solutions/cybersec-workspace-detection-app/blob/main/base/detections/event-based/configuration_changes_account_level.py
Source
github.com/panther-labs/panther-analysis

Detects configuration changes at the Databricks account level, including account settings, metastore configurations, and SSO settings. Account-level changes affect all workspaces and should be monitored for unauthorized modifications.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
PersistenceT1098 Account Manipulation

Rule body yaml

AnalysisType: rule
Filename: databricks_config_changes_account_level.py
RuleID: "Databricks.Audit.ConfigChangesAccountLevel"
DisplayName: "Databricks Account-Level Configuration Changes"
Enabled: true
Status: Experimental
LogTypes:
  - Databricks.Audit
Tags:
  - Databricks
  - Persistence
Reports:
  MITRE ATT&CK:
    - TA0003:T1098 # Account Manipulation
Severity: Info
Description: >
  Detects configuration changes at the Databricks account level, including account settings,
  metastore configurations, and SSO settings. Account-level changes affect all workspaces and
  should be monitored for unauthorized modifications.
Runbook: |
  1. Query audit logs for all account-level changes by the actor in the 24 hours around this event
  2. Check if this configuration change affected multiple workspaces based on activity in the 6 hours after the change
  3. Find all account-level configuration changes in the past 30 days to identify patterns
Reference: https://github.com/databricks-solutions/cybersec-workspace-detection-app/blob/main/base/detections/event-based/configuration_changes_account_level.py
Tests:
  - Name: Account Settings Updated
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      timestamp: 1234567890000
      auditLevel: "ACCOUNT_LEVEL"
      serviceName: "accounts"
      actionName: "updateAccountSettings"
      userIdentity:
        email: "admin@example.com"
      sourceIPAddress: "198.51.100.1"
      requestParams:
        setting: "defaultWorkspaceRegion"
        value: "us-west-2"
      response:
        statusCode: 200
  - Name: SSO Configuration Created
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      timestamp: 1234567890000
      auditLevel: "ACCOUNT_LEVEL"
      serviceName: "ssoConfigBackend"
      actionName: "create"
      userIdentity:
        email: "admin@example.com"
      requestParams:
        provider: "okta"
        status: "enabled"
      response:
        statusCode: 200
  - Name: Workspace-Level Change
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      timestamp: 1234567890000
      auditLevel: "WORKSPACE_LEVEL"
      serviceName: "workspace"
      actionName: "workspaceConfEdit"
      userIdentity:
        email: "admin@example.com"
      requestParams:
        workspaceConfKeys: "displayName"
  - Name: Non-Config Action
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      timestamp: 1234567890000
      auditLevel: "ACCOUNT_LEVEL"
      serviceName: "accounts"
      actionName: "login"
      userIdentity:
        email: "user@example.com"

Detection logic

Condition

auditLevel eq "ACCOUNT_LEVEL"
serviceName eq "workspace" or serviceName eq "accounts" or serviceName eq "ssoConfigBackend" or serviceName eq "workspace" or serviceName eq "accounts" or serviceName eq "ssoConfigBackend"

This rule also runs imperative logic the parser cannot express as a filter; the conditions above are the structured part it could extract.

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.

FieldKindValues
auditLeveleq
  • ACCOUNT_LEVEL
serviceNameeq
  • accounts
  • ssoConfigBackend
  • workspace

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.

FieldSource
serviceName
actionName
emailuserIdentity.email