GCP Inbound SSO Profile Created

Severity: high
Log types: GCP.AuditLog
Tags: Account Manipulation, Additional Cloud Roles, GCP, Privilege Escalation
Reference: https://medium.com/google-cloud/detection-of-inbound-sso-persistence-techniques-in-gcp-c56f7b2a588b
Source: github.com/panther-labs/panther-analysis

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Persistence	`T1098.003` Account Manipulation: Additional Cloud Roles, `T1136.003` Create Account: Cloud Account
Privilege Escalation	`T1098.003` Account Manipulation: Additional Cloud Roles

Rule body yaml

AnalysisType: rule
Filename: gcp_inbound_sso_profile_created_or_updated.py
RuleID: "GCP.Inbound.SSO.Profile.Created"
DisplayName: "GCP Inbound SSO Profile Created"
Enabled: true
LogTypes:
  - GCP.AuditLog
Tags:
  - Account Manipulation
  - Additional Cloud Roles
  - GCP
  - Privilege Escalation
Reports:
  MITRE ATT&CK:
    - TA0003:T1136.003
    - TA0003:T1098.003
    - TA0004:T1098.003
Severity: High
DedupPeriodMinutes: 60
Threshold: 1
Runbook: >
  Ensure that the SSO profile creation or modification was expected. Adversaries may use this to persist or allow additional access or escalate their privilege.
Reference: https://medium.com/google-cloud/detection-of-inbound-sso-persistence-techniques-in-gcp-c56f7b2a588b
Tests:
  - Name: InboundSsoProfileDeleted-False
    ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      insertId: chtsf1e7iek8
      logName: organizations/325169835352/logs/cloudaudit.googleapis.com%2Factivity
      protoPayload:
        "@type": type.googleapis.com/google.cloud.audit.AuditLog
        authenticationInfo:
          principalEmail: user@example.com
        metadata:
          "@type": type.googleapis.com/ccc_hosted_reporting.ActivityProto
          activityId:
            timeUsec: "1700250882598435"
            uniqQualifier: "6879748717081533837"
          event:
            - eventId: dd0c44e2
              eventName: INBOUND_SSO_PROFILE_DELETED
              eventType: INBOUND_SSO_SETTINGS
              parameter:
                - label: LABEL_OPTIONAL
                  name: INBOUND_SSO_PROFILE_NAME
                  type: TYPE_STRING
                  value: inboundSamlSsoProfiles/01lmf7wd3jt9atc
        methodName: google.admin.AdminService.inboundSsoProfileDeleted
        requestMetadata:
          destinationAttributes: {}
          requestAttributes: {}
        resourceName: organizations/123456789012/inboundSsoSettings
        serviceName: admin.googleapis.com
      receiveTimestamp: "2023-11-17T19:54:43.367407397Z"
      resource:
        labels:
          method: google.admin.AdminService.inboundSsoProfileDeleted
          service: admin.googleapis.com
        type: audited_resource
      severity: NOTICE
      timestamp: "2023-11-17T19:54:42.598435Z"
  - Name: InboundSsoProfileUpdated-True
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      insertId: crpr6bdcjfg
      logName: organizations/123456789012/logs/cloudaudit.googleapis.com%2Factivity
      protoPayload:
        "@type": type.googleapis.com/google.cloud.audit.AuditLog
        authenticationInfo:
          principalEmail: user@@example.com
        metadata:
          "@type": type.googleapis.com/ccc_hosted_reporting.ActivityProto
          activityId:
            timeUsec: "1700250956956215"
            uniqQualifier: "2009471038637356014"
          event:
            - eventId: bdbc47ad
              eventName: INBOUND_SSO_PROFILE_UPDATED
              eventType: INBOUND_SSO_SETTINGS
              parameter:
                - label: LABEL_OPTIONAL
                  name: INBOUND_SSO_PROFILE_CHANGES
                  type: TYPE_STRING
                  value: "Display Name : { oldValue: Test Profile, newValue: Test Profile Update}"
                - label: LABEL_OPTIONAL
                  name: INBOUND_SSO_PROFILE_NAME
                  type: TYPE_STRING
                  value: inboundSamlSsoProfiles/03vsz0843d02br4
        methodName: google.admin.AdminService.inboundSsoProfileUpdated
        requestMetadata:
          destinationAttributes: {}
          requestAttributes: {}
        resourceName: organizations/123456789012/inboundSsoSettings
        serviceName: admin.googleapis.com
      receiveTimestamp: "2023-11-17T19:55:57.417198068Z"
      resource:
        labels:
          method: google.admin.AdminService.inboundSsoProfileUpdated
          service: admin.googleapis.com
        type: audited_resource
      severity: NOTICE
      timestamp: "2023-11-17T19:55:56.956215Z"
  - Name: InboundSsoProfileCreated-True
    ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      insertId: -rqtp5gefopij
      logName: organizations/123456789012/logs/cloudaudit.googleapis.com%2Factivity
      protoPayload:
        "@type": type.googleapis.com/google.cloud.audit.AuditLog
        authenticationInfo:
          principalEmail: user@example.com
        metadata:
          "@type": type.googleapis.com/ccc_hosted_reporting.ActivityProto
          activityId:
            timeUsec: "1700250924521362"
            uniqQualifier: "6051731645161637785"
          event:
            - eventId: 637d2b33
              eventName: INBOUND_SSO_PROFILE_CREATED
              eventType: INBOUND_SSO_SETTINGS
              parameter:
                - label: LABEL_OPTIONAL
                  name: INBOUND_SSO_PROFILE_NAME
                  type: TYPE_STRING
                  value: inboundSamlSsoProfiles/03vsz0843d02br4
        methodName: google.admin.AdminService.inboundSsoProfileCreated
        requestMetadata:
          destinationAttributes: {}
          requestAttributes: {}
        resourceName: organizations/123456789012/inboundSsoSettings
        serviceName: admin.googleapis.com
      receiveTimestamp: "2023-11-17T19:55:25.012649522Z"
      resource:
        labels:
          method: google.admin.AdminService.inboundSsoProfileCreated
          service: admin.googleapis.com
        type: audited_resource
      severity: NOTICE
      timestamp: "2023-11-17T19:55:24.521362Z"

Detection logic

Condition

protoPayload.methodName in ["google.admin.AdminService.inboundSsoProfileCreated", "google.admin.AdminService.inboundSsoProfileUpdated"]

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
`protoPayload.methodName`	in	`google.admin.AdminService.inboundSsoProfileCreated` `google.admin.AdminService.inboundSsoProfileUpdated`

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
`resourceName`	`protoPayload.resourceName`
`serviceName`	`protoPayload.serviceName`
`principalEmail`	`protoPayload.authenticationInfo.principalEmail`
`eventName`	`protoPayload.metadata.event.eventName`

`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)