↳ GitHub sourceAnalytics ruleMedium

New Agent Added to Pool by New User or Added to a New OS Type

Description

'As seen in attacks such as SolarWinds attackers can look to subvert a build process by controlling build servers. Azure DevOps uses agent pools to execute pipeline tasks. An attacker could insert compromised agents that they control into the pools in order to execute malicious code. This query looks for users adding agents to pools they have not added agents to before, or adding agents to a pool of an OS that has not been added to that pool before. This detection has potential for false positives so has a configurable allow list to allow for certain users to be excluded from the logic.'
Rule type
Scheduled
Version
1.0.6
Declared status
Available
Query frequency
1d
Query period
14d
Trigger
gt 0

Declared MITRE coverage

KQL query

Original query, unchanged.

let lookback = 14d;
let timeframe = 1d;
// exclude allowed users from query such as the ADO service
let allowed_users = dynamic(["Azure DevOps Service"]);
union
// Look for agents being added to a pool of a OS type not seen with that pool before
(ADOAuditLogs
| where TimeGenerated > ago(lookback) and TimeGenerated < ago(timeframe)
| where OperationName =~ "Library.AgentAdded"
| where ActorUPN !in (allowed_users)
| extend AgentPoolName = tostring(Data.AgentPoolName)
| extend OsDescription = tostring(Data.OsDescription)
| where isnotempty(OsDescription)
| extend OsDescription = tostring(split(OsDescription, "#", 0)[0])
| project AgentPoolName, OsDescription
| join kind=rightanti (ADOAuditLogs
| where TimeGenerated > ago(timeframe)
| where OperationName == "Library.AgentAdded"
| extend AgentPoolName = tostring(Data.AgentPoolName)
| extend OsDescription = tostring(Data.OsDescription)
| where isnotempty(OsDescription)
| extend OsDescription = tostring(split(OsDescription, "#", 0)[0])) on AgentPoolName, OsDescription),
// Look for users addeing agents to a pool that they have not added agents to before.
(AzureDevOpsAuditing
| where TimeGenerated > ago(lookback) and TimeGenerated < ago(timeframe)
| extend AgentPoolName = tostring(Data.AgentPoolName)
| where ActorUPN !in (allowed_users)
| project AgentPoolName, ActorUPN
| join kind=rightanti (AzureDevOpsAuditing
| where TimeGenerated > ago(timeframe)
| where OperationName == "Library.AgentAdded"
| where ActorUPN !in (allowed_users)
| extend AgentPoolName = tostring(Data.AgentPoolName)
) on AgentPoolName, ActorUPN)
| extend AgentName = tostring(Data.AgentName)
| extend OsDescription = tostring(Data.OsDescription)
| extend SystemDetails = Data.SystemCapabilities
| project-reorder TimeGenerated, OperationName, ScopeDisplayName, AgentPoolName, AgentName, ActorUPN, IpAddress, UserAgent, OsDescription, SystemDetails, Data
| extend timestamp = TimeGenerated
| extend AccountName = tostring(split(ActorUPN, "@")[0]), AccountUPNSuffix = tostring(split(ActorUPN, "@")[1])

Declared entities

AccountIP

Related content

Links established from declared identifiers and solution manifests.

Source provenance

GitHub

Displayed values come from files in Azure/Azure-Sentinel. They describe the published template, not your workspace configuration.

Source identifier
4ce177b3-56b1-4f0e-b83e-27eed4cb0b16
Additional source files 3Solutions/AzureDevOpsAuditing/Analytic Rules/NewAgentAddedToPoolbyNewUserorofNewOS.yamlsource ↗Detections/AzureDevOpsAuditing/NewAgentAddedToPoolbyNewUserorofNewOS.yamlmigration-note ↗Solutions/AzureDevOpsAuditing/Data/Solution_AzureDevOpsAuditing.jsonsolution-membership ↗
GSTEP / CATALOG TRACKING

Added to catalog : 16 Sept 2026 · 05:49 UTC
Last change observed : 16 Sept 2026 · 05:49 UTC

GSTEP sync dates, separate from the source content’s publication dates.