Elastic Security Detection Rules

Microsoft 365 Global Administrator Role Assigned

Last updated 6 days ago on 2025-11-08
Created 4 years ago on 2022-01-06

About

Identifies when the Microsoft 365 Global Administrator or Company Administrator role is assigned to a user or service principal. The Global Administrator role has extensive privileges across Entra ID and Microsoft 365 services, making it a high-value target for adversaries seeking persistent access. Successful assignments of this role may indicate potential privilege escalation or unauthorized access attempts, especially if performed by accounts that do not typically manage high-privilege roles.
Tags
Domain: CloudDomain: SaaSDomain: IdentityData Source: Microsoft 365Data Source: Microsoft 365 Audit LogsUse Case: Identity and Access AuditTactic: PersistenceLanguage: kuery
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

Persistence (TA0003)(opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Account Manipulation (T1098)(opens in a new tab or window)

License
Elastic License v2(opens in a new tab or window)

Definition

Rule Type
Query (Kibana Query Language)
Integration Pack
Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Index Patterns
logs-o365.audit-*
Related Integrations

o365(opens in a new tab or window)

Query
event.dataset:o365.audit
    and event.code:"AzureActiveDirectory"
    and event.action:"Add member to role."
    and event.outcome: "success"
    and o365.audit.ModifiedProperties.Role_DisplayName.NewValue: (
        "Global Administrator" or "Company Administrator"
    )
    and o365.audit.AzureActiveDirectoryEventType: 1
    and o365.audit.RecordType: 8

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Microsoft 365 Global Administrator Role Assigned in the Elastic Security detection engine by installing this rule into your Elastic Stack.

To setup this rule, check out the installation guide for Prebuilt Security Detection Rules(opens in a new tab or window).