O365 Privileged Role Assigned

name: O365 Privileged Role Assigned
id: db435700-4ddc-4c23-892e-49e7525d7d39
version: 9
date: '2026-03-10'
author: Steven Dick
status: production
type: TTP
description: The following analytic identifies the assignment of sensitive and privileged Azure Active Directory roles to an Azure AD user. Adversaries and red teams alike may assign these roles to a compromised account to establish Persistence in an Azure AD environment. This detection leverages the O365 Universal Audit Log data source.
data_source:
    - Office 365 Universal Audit Log
search: "`o365_management_activity` Workload=AzureActiveDirectory Operation IN (\"Add member to role.\",\"Add eligible member to role.\") | eval user = ObjectId, src_user = case(match(mvindex('Actor{}.ID',-1),\"User\"),mvindex('Actor{}.ID',0),match(mvindex('Actor{}.ID',-1),\"ServicePrincipal\"),mvindex('Actor{}.ID',3),true(),mvindex('Actor{}.ID',0)), object_name = mvindex('ModifiedProperties{}.NewValue', mvfind('ModifiedProperties{}.Name',\"Role\\.DisplayName\")), object_id = mvindex('ModifiedProperties{}.NewValue', mvfind('ModifiedProperties{}.Name',\"Role\\.TemplateId\")), signature = Operation, result = ResultStatus, category = mvindex('Target{}.ID',2) | fillnull | stats count, min(_time) as firstTime, max(_time) as lastTime by src_user, src, user, category, result, object_name, object_id, signature, vendor_account, vendor_product, dest | lookup privileged_azure_ad_roles azuretemplateid as object_id OUTPUT isprvilegedadrole | search isprvilegedadrole=\"TRUE\" category=\"User\" | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` | `o365_privileged_role_assigned_filter`"
how_to_implement: You must install the Splunk Microsoft Office 365 Add-on and ingest Office 365 management activity events.
known_false_positives: Administrators will legitimately assign the privileged roles users as part of administrative tasks. Microsoft Privileged Identity Management (PIM) may cause false positives / less accurate alerting.
references:
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1098/003/
    - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/roles/permissions-reference
    - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/admin/add-users/about-exchange-online-admin-role?view=o365-worldwide
drilldown_searches:
    - name: View the detection results for - "$user$" and "$src_user$"
      search: '%original_detection_search% | search  user = "$user$" src_user = "$src_user$"'
      earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
      latest_offset: $info_max_time$
    - name: View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$user$" and "$src_user$"
      search: '| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$user$", "$src_user$") starthoursago=168  | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(search_name) as "Search Name" values(risk_message) as "Risk Message" values(analyticstories) as "Analytic Stories" values(annotations._all) as "Annotations" values(annotations.mitre_attack.mitre_tactic) as "ATT&CK Tactics" by normalized_risk_object | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`'
      earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
      latest_offset: $info_max_time$
rba:
    message: A privileged Azure AD role [$object_name$] was assigned to user $user$ by $src_user$
    risk_objects:
        - field: user
          type: user
          score: 50
        - field: src_user
          type: user
          score: 50
    threat_objects: []
tags:
    analytic_story:
        - Azure Active Directory Persistence
        - Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters
    asset_type: O365 Tenant
    mitre_attack_id:
        - T1098.003
    product:
        - Splunk Enterprise
        - Splunk Enterprise Security
        - Splunk Cloud
    security_domain: identity
tests:
    - name: True Positive Test
      attack_data:
        - data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/attack_techniques/T1098/o365_azure_workload_events/o365_azure_workload_events.log
          sourcetype: o365:management:activity
          source: o365