Entra ID Privileged Role Assigned to Another Account

Last updated a day ago on 2026-10-19
Created a day ago on 2026-10-19

About

Identifies when a privileged Microsoft Entra ID directory role is assigned from one account to a different account. The actor can be a user or an application (service principal), and the member can be a user or a service principal. Privileged roles can be used to take over the tenant, reset credentials, add credentials to applications, or control mail and collaboration services, so an unexpected assignment is a strong persistence and privilege escalation signal. Adversaries that compromise an administrator or a vendor application may grant a privileged role to an account they control.
Tags
Domain: CloudDomain: IdentityData Source: AzureData Source: Microsoft Entra IDData Source: Microsoft Entra ID Audit LogsUse Case: Identity and Access AuditUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Privilege EscalationTactic: PersistenceRule Type: ES|QLPlatform: Entra IDProfile: BetaLanguage: esql
Severity
medium
Risk Score
47
MITRE ATT&CK™

Privilege Escalation (TA0004)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

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

False Positive Examples
Planned role assignments by administrators during onboarding, role changes, or delegation. Validate against the change record, and add exceptions for the administrators or automation accounts that routinely assign roles. Identity governance and provisioning tools that assign directory roles on behalf of administrators. Review the initiating application and exclude it by application ID after review.
License
Elastic License v2(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Definition

Integration Pack
Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Related Integrations

azure(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Query
text code block:
from logs-azure.auditlogs-* metadata _id, _version, _index // role assignments, matching the same operations as the application self-assignment rule | where data_stream.dataset == "azure.auditlogs" and azure.auditlogs.operation_name in ( "Add member to role", "Add member to role outside of PIM (permanent)", "Add member to role in PIM completed (permanent)", "Add member to role in PIM completed (timebound)", "Add eligible member to role in PIM completed (permanent)", "Add eligible member to role in PIM completed (timebound)" ) and event.outcome in ("success", "Success") // the actor can be a user or an application | eval Esql.actor_id = coalesce(azure.auditlogs.properties.initiated_by.user.id, azure.auditlogs.properties.initiated_by.app.servicePrincipalId) | eval Esql.actor_type = case(azure.auditlogs.properties.initiated_by.user.id is not null, "user", "service_principal") // the member is the account among the first two targets; the position differs by operation, and the "outside of PIM" // operation is a PIM alert that records only the role, so it has no member and is dropped below | eval Esql.member_id = case( `azure.auditlogs.properties.target_resources.0.type` in ("User", "ServicePrincipal", "Group"), `azure.auditlogs.properties.target_resources.0.id`, `azure.auditlogs.properties.target_resources.1.type` in ("User", "ServicePrincipal", "Group"), `azure.auditlogs.properties.target_resources.1.id`, null ) | eval Esql.member_type = case( `azure.auditlogs.properties.target_resources.0.type` in ("User", "ServicePrincipal", "Group"), `azure.auditlogs.properties.target_resources.0.type`, `azure.auditlogs.properties.target_resources.1.type` in ("User", "ServicePrincipal", "Group"), `azure.auditlogs.properties.target_resources.1.type`, null ) // one account assigning the role to a different account; self-assignment by an application has its own rule | where Esql.actor_id is not null and Esql.member_id is not null and Esql.actor_id != Esql.member_id // the role name is in a modified property for direct assignments, or the display name of the role target otherwise | eval Esql.role_name_raw = coalesce( case(`azure.auditlogs.properties.target_resources.0.modified_properties.0.display_name` == "Role.DisplayName", `azure.auditlogs.properties.target_resources.0.modified_properties.0.new_value`, null), case(`azure.auditlogs.properties.target_resources.0.modified_properties.1.display_name` == "Role.DisplayName", `azure.auditlogs.properties.target_resources.0.modified_properties.1.new_value`, null), case(`azure.auditlogs.properties.target_resources.0.modified_properties.2.display_name` == "Role.DisplayName", `azure.auditlogs.properties.target_resources.0.modified_properties.2.new_value`, null), case(`azure.auditlogs.properties.target_resources.0.modified_properties.3.display_name` == "Role.DisplayName", `azure.auditlogs.properties.target_resources.0.modified_properties.3.new_value`, null), case(`azure.auditlogs.properties.target_resources.0.type` == "Role", `azure.auditlogs.properties.target_resources.0.display_name`, null), case(`azure.auditlogs.properties.target_resources.1.type` == "Role", `azure.auditlogs.properties.target_resources.1.display_name`, null) ) | eval Esql.role_name = replace(Esql.role_name_raw, "\"", "") // privileged roles: every built-in role marked PRIVILEGED in the Microsoft Entra built-in roles reference, plus other // built-in roles with administrative control over major Entra and Microsoft 365 services or access to tenant data. // Matched by exact role name, not by pattern. | where to_lower(Esql.role_name) in ( // marked PRIVILEGED by Microsoft "agent id administrator", "ai administrator", "ai reader", "application administrator", "application developer", "attribute provisioning administrator", "attribute provisioning reader", "authentication administrator", "authentication extensibility administrator", "authentication extensibility password administrator", "b2c ief keyset administrator", "cloud application administrator", "cloud device administrator", "conditional access administrator", "directory writers", "domain name administrator", "entra soc identity responder", "external identity provider administrator", "global administrator", "global reader", "helpdesk administrator", "hybrid identity administrator", "identity governance administrator", "intune administrator", "lifecycle workflows administrator", "partner tier1 support", "partner tier2 support", "password administrator", "privileged authentication administrator", "privileged role administrator", "security administrator", "security operator", "security reader", "tenant governance administrator", "user administrator", // not marked privileged by Microsoft, but with administrative control over major services "attribute assignment administrator", "authentication policy administrator", "cloud app security administrator", "compliance administrator", "directory synchronization accounts", "dynamics 365 administrator", "exchange administrator", "external id user flow administrator", "global secure access administrator", "groups administrator", "knowledge administrator", "microsoft 365 backup administrator", "microsoft 365 migration administrator", "on premises directory sync account", "power platform administrator", "sharepoint administrator", "skype for business administrator", "teams administrator", "teams telephony administrator", "windows 365 administrator", "yammer administrator", // additional roles: mailbox permissions, local administrator on joined devices (current and previous display // name), delegated partner access to the tenant, and approval of Microsoft support access to customer data "exchange recipient administrator", "azure ad joined device local administrator", "microsoft entra joined device local administrator", "customer delegated admin relationship administrator", "customer lockbox access approver", "entra customer lockbox approver", // legacy display name of Global Administrator "company administrator" ) | drop Esql.role_name_raw | keep @timestamp, Esql.*, azure.*, event.*, cloud.*, related.*, tags, source.*, agent.*, client.*, _id, _version, _index, data_stream.namespace

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Entra ID Privileged Role Assigned to Another Account 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(external, opens in a new tab or window).