Azure Owner Removed From Application or Service Principal

title: Azure Owner Removed From Application or Service Principal
id: 636e30d5-3736-42ea-96b1-e6e2f8429fd6
status: test
description: Identifies when a owner is was removed from a application or service principal in Azure.
references:
    - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/identity/monitoring-health/reference-audit-activities#core-directory
author: Austin Songer @austinsonger
date: 2021-09-03
modified: 2026-04-30
tags:
    - attack.stealth
logsource:
    product: azure
    service: auditlogs
detection:
    selection:
        operationName:
            - 'Remove owner from service principal'
            - 'Remove owner from application'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Owner being removed may be performed by a system administrator.
    - Verify whether the user identity, user agent, and/or hostname should be making changes in your environment.
    - Owner removed from unfamiliar users should be investigated. If known behavior is causing false positives, it can be exempted from the rule.
level: medium