Microsoft Intune DeviceManagementConfigurationPolicies

Status: production
Author: Dean Luxton
Source: github.com/splunk/security_content

Microsoft Intune device management configuration policies are a tool administrators can use to remotely manage policies and settings on intune managed devices. This functionality can also be abused to disable defences & evade detection. This detection identifies when a new device management configuration policy has been created.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Execution	`T1072` Software Deployment Tools
Privilege Escalation	`T1484` Domain or Tenant Policy Modification
Defense Impairment	`T1484` Domain or Tenant Policy Modification, `T1685` Disable or Modify Tools, `T1686` Disable or Modify System Firewall
Lateral Movement	`T1021.007` Remote Services: Cloud Services, `T1072` Software Deployment Tools

Rule body splunk

name: Microsoft Intune DeviceManagementConfigurationPolicies
id: 3c49e5ed-625c-408c-a2c7-8e2b524efb2c
version: 5
creation_date: '2025-01-06'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Dean Luxton
status: production
type: Hunting
description: >-
    Microsoft Intune device management configuration policies are a tool
    administrators can use to remotely manage policies and settings on intune
    managed devices. This functionality can also be abused to disable defences &
    evade detection. This detection identifies when a new device management
    configuration policy has been created.
data_source:
    - Azure Monitor Activity
search: >-
    `azure_monitor_activity` operationName="*
    DeviceManagementConfigurationPolicy*" | rename identity as user,
    properties.TargetObjectIds{} as TargetObjectId,
    properties.TargetDisplayNames{} as TargetDisplayName,
    properties.Actor.IsDelegatedAdmin as user_isDelegatedAdmin | eval
    details=mvzip('properties.Targets{}.ModifiedProperties{}.Name','properties.Targets{}.ModifiedProperties{}.New',":
    ") | rex field="operationName" "^(?P<action>\w+)\s" | replace "Patch" with
    "updated", "Create" with "created", "Delete", with "deleted", "assign", with
    "assigned" IN action | eval action=if(match(operationName
    ,"Assignment$"),"assigned",'action') | table _time operationName action user
    user_type user_isDelegatedAdmin TargetDisplayName TargetObjectId details
    status tenantId correlationId |
    `microsoft_intune_devicemanagementconfigurationpolicies_filter`
how_to_implement: >-
    The Splunk Add-on for Microsoft Cloud Services add-on is required to ingest
    In-Tune audit logs via Azure EventHub. To configure this logging, visit Intune
    > Tenant administration > Diagnostic settings > Add diagnostic settings & send
    events to the activity audit event hub. Deploy as a risk based alerting rule
    for quick deployment or perform baselining & tune accordingly.
known_false_positives: Legitimate adminstrative usage of this functionality will trigger this detection.
references:
    - https://posts.specterops.io/death-from-above-lateral-movement-from-azure-to-on-prem-ad-d18cb3959d4d
    - https://securityintelligence.com/x-force/detecting-intune-lateral-movement/
    - https://posts.specterops.io/maestro-9ed71d38d546
analytic_story:
    - Azure Active Directory Account Takeover
asset_type: Azure Tenant
mitre_attack_id:
    - T1072
    - T1484
    - T1021.007
    - T1685
    - T1686
product:
    - Splunk Enterprise
    - Splunk Enterprise Security
    - Splunk Cloud
category: cloud
security_domain: audit
tests:
    - name: True Positive Test
      attack_data:
        - data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/attack_techniques/T1072/intune/intune.log
          sourcetype: azure:monitor:activity
          source: Azure AD
      test_type: unit

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `search`

`azure_monitor_activity` operationName="* DeviceManagementConfigurationPolicy*"

Stage 2: `rename`

| rename identity as user, properties.TargetObjectIds{} as TargetObjectId, properties.TargetDisplayNames{} as TargetDisplayName, properties.Actor.IsDelegatedAdmin as user_isDelegatedAdmin

Stage 3: `eval`

| eval details=mvzip('properties.Targets{}.ModifiedProperties{}.Name','properties.Targets{}.ModifiedProperties{}.New',": ")

Stage 4: `rex`

| rex field="operationName" "^(?P<action>\w+)\s"

Stage 5: `macro` (not parsed)

| replace "Patch" with "updated", "Create" with "created", "Delete", with "deleted", "assign", with "assigned" IN action

Stage 6: `eval`

| eval action=if(match(operationName ,"Assignment$"),"assigned",'action')

action =

ifmatch(operationName, "Assignment$")"assigned"

else'action'

Stage 7: `table`

| table _time operationName action user user_type user_isDelegatedAdmin TargetDisplayName TargetObjectId details status tenantId correlationId

Stage 8: `search`

| `microsoft_intune_devicemanagementconfigurationpolicies_filter`

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
`operationName`	eq	`"* DeviceManagementConfigurationPolicy*"`
`sourcetype`	eq	`azure:monitor:activity`

`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)

Microsoft Intune DeviceManagementConfigurationPolicies

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Rule body splunk

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `search`

Stage 2: `rename`

Stage 3: `eval`

Stage 4: `rex`

Stage 5: `macro` (not parsed)

Stage 6: `eval`

Stage 7: `table`

Stage 8: `search`

Indicators

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Microsoft Intune DeviceManagementConfigurationPolicies

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Rule body splunk

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: search

Stage 2: rename

Stage 3: eval

Stage 4: rex

Stage 5: macro (not parsed)

Stage 6: eval

Stage 7: table

Stage 8: search

Indicators

Stage 1: `search`

Stage 2: `rename`

Stage 3: `eval`

Stage 4: `rex`

Stage 5: `macro` (not parsed)

Stage 6: `eval`

Stage 7: `table`

Stage 8: `search`