Detection rules › Panther

Databricks Workspace-Level Configuration Changes

Status
Experimental
Severity
informational
Group by
workspaceId
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_workspace_level.py
Source
github.com/panther-labs/panther-analysis

Detects configuration changes at the Databricks workspace level. Workspace-level changes affect a single workspace and include settings like cluster configurations, notebook settings, and workspace-specific security controls.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
PersistenceT1098 Account Manipulation

Rule body yaml

AnalysisType: rule
Filename: databricks_config_changes_workspace_level.py
RuleID: "Databricks.Audit.ConfigChangesWorkspaceLevel"
DisplayName: "Databricks Workspace-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 workspace level. Workspace-level changes
  affect a single workspace and include settings like cluster configurations, notebook
  settings, and workspace-specific security controls.
Runbook: |
  1. Query audit logs for all workspace configuration changes in the 24 hours around this event
  2. Check if the workspace behavior changed based on cluster activity or user actions in the 6 hours after the configuration change
  3. Find all configuration changes for this workspace in the past 30 days to establish baseline
Reference: https://github.com/databricks-solutions/cybersec-workspace-detection-app/blob/main/base/detections/event-based/configuration_changes_workspace_level.py
Tests:
  - Name: Workspace Config Edit
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      timestamp: 1234567890000
      auditLevel: "WORKSPACE_LEVEL"
      serviceName: "workspace"
      actionName: "workspaceConfEdit"
      workspaceId: "1234567890123456"
      userIdentity:
        email: "admin@example.com"
      sourceIPAddress: "198.51.100.1"
      requestParams:
        workspaceConfKeys: "defaultClusterVersion"
        workspaceConfValues: "12.2.x-scala2.12"
      response:
        statusCode: 200
  - Name: Workspace Settings Updated
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      timestamp: 1234567890000
      auditLevel: "WORKSPACE_LEVEL"
      serviceName: "workspace"
      actionName: "updateWorkspaceSettings"
      workspaceId: "1234567890123456"
      userIdentity:
        email: "admin@example.com"
      requestParams:
        setting: "enableNotebookGit"
        value: "true"
      response:
        statusCode: 200
  - Name: Account-Level Change
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      timestamp: 1234567890000
      auditLevel: "ACCOUNT_LEVEL"
      serviceName: "accounts"
      actionName: "updateAccountSettings"
      userIdentity:
        email: "admin@example.com"
  - Name: Non-Config Action
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      timestamp: 1234567890000
      auditLevel: "WORKSPACE_LEVEL"
      serviceName: "workspace"
      actionName: "createNotebook"
      workspaceId: "1234567890123456"
      userIdentity:
        email: "user@example.com"

Detection logic

Condition

auditLevel eq "WORKSPACE_LEVEL"
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
  • WORKSPACE_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
workspaceId
emailuserIdentity.email
actionName