Microsoft Intune Mobile Apps

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

Microsoft Intune supports deploying packaged applications to support software deployment, this functionality can also be abused for deploying malicious payloads to intune managed devices. This detection identifies when a new packaged application has been added, updated or deleted.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Execution	`T1072` Software Deployment Tools
Stealth	`T1202` Indirect Command Execution
Lateral Movement	`T1021.007` Remote Services: Cloud Services, `T1072` Software Deployment Tools
Command & Control	`T1105` Ingress Tool Transfer

Rule body splunk

name: Microsoft Intune Mobile Apps
id: 98e6b389-2806-4426-a580-8a92cb0d9710
version: 5
creation_date: '2025-01-06'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Dean Luxton
status: experimental
type: Hunting
description: |
    Microsoft Intune supports deploying packaged applications to support software deployment, this functionality can also be abused for deploying malicious payloads to intune managed devices.
    This detection identifies when a new packaged application has been added, updated or deleted.
data_source:
    - Azure Monitor Activity
search: |
    `azure_monitor_activity` operationName="*MobileApp*"
    | rename identity as user, properties.TargetObjectIds{} as TargetObjectId, properties.TargetDisplayNames{} as TargetDisplayName, properties.Actor.IsDelegatedAdmin as user_isDelegatedAdmin
    | rex field="operationName" "^(?P<action>\w+)\s" | replace "Patch" with "updated", "Create" with "created", "Delete", with "deleted", "assign", with "assigned" IN action
    | table _time operationName action user user_type user_isDelegatedAdmin TargetDisplayName TargetObjectId status tenantId correlationId
    | `microsoft_intune_mobile_apps_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
    - T1021.007
    - T1202
    - T1105
product:
    - Splunk Enterprise
    - Splunk Enterprise Security
    - Splunk Cloud
category: cloud
security_domain: audit

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `search`

`azure_monitor_activity` operationName="*MobileApp*"

Stage 2: `rename`

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

Stage 3: `rex`

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

Stage 4: `macro` (not parsed)

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

Stage 5: `table`

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

Stage 6: `search`

| `microsoft_intune_mobile_apps_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	`"MobileApp"`
`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 Mobile Apps

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Rule body splunk

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `search`

Stage 2: `rename`

Stage 3: `rex`

Stage 4: `macro` (not parsed)

Stage 5: `table`

Stage 6: `search`

Indicators

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Microsoft Intune Mobile Apps

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Rule body splunk

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: search

Stage 2: rename

Stage 3: rex

Stage 4: macro (not parsed)

Stage 5: table

Stage 6: search

Indicators

Stage 1: `search`

Stage 2: `rename`

Stage 3: `rex`

Stage 4: `macro` (not parsed)

Stage 5: `table`

Stage 6: `search`