Description
This query searches for changes to the local administrators group.
Blogpost: https://www.verboon.info/2020/09/hunting-for-local-group-membership-changes.
- Rule type
- Scheduled
- Version
- 1.0.2
- Declared status
- Available
- Query frequency
- 1h
- Query period
- 1h
- Trigger
- gt 0
Declared MITRE coverage
Declared sources
Metadata from the source file. No dependencies inferred from KQL.
Connectors
Data types
KQL query
Original query, unchanged.
let machineAccountSIDs = dynamic([
"S-1-5-18",
"S-1-5-20",
"S-1-5-19"]);
let ADAZUsers = IdentityInfo
| extend DirectoryDomain = AccountDomain
| extend DirectoryAccount = AccountName
| extend OnPremSid = AccountSID
| distinct DirectoryDomain , DirectoryAccount , OnPremSid , AccountCloudSID, AccountUPN, GivenName, Surname;
// check for any new created or modified local accounts
let NewUsers = DeviceEvents
| where ActionType contains "UserAccountCreated" or ActionType contains "UserAccountModified"
| extend lUserAdded = AccountName
| extend NewUserSID = AccountSid
| extend laccountdomain = AccountDomain
| distinct NewUserSID, lUserAdded,laccountdomain;
// Check for any local group changes and enrich the data with the account name obtained from the previous query
DeviceEvents
| where ActionType == 'UserAccountAddedToLocalGroup'
// Exclude machine and wellknown SIDs
| where (AccountSid !in (machineAccountSIDs)) and (AccountSid matches regex @"S-\d-\d+-\d+-(\d+-){1,5}\d+")
| extend LocalGroupSID = tostring(parse_json(AdditionalFields).GroupSid)
| extend LocalGroup = tostring(parse_json(AdditionalFields).GroupName)
| extend AddedAccountSID = AccountSid
| extend Actor = trim(@"[^\w]+",InitiatingProcessAccountName)
// limit to local administrators group
// | where LocalGroupSID contains "S-1-5-32-544"
| join kind=leftouter (NewUsers)
on $left.AddedAccountSID == $right.NewUserSID
| project TimeGenerated, DeviceName, LocalGroup,LocalGroupSID, AddedAccountSID, lUserAdded , Actor, ActionType , laccountdomain
| join kind=innerunique (ADAZUsers)
on $left.AddedAccountSID == $right.OnPremSid
| extend UserAdded = iff(isnotempty(lUserAdded),strcat(laccountdomain,"\\", lUserAdded), strcat(DirectoryDomain,"\\", DirectoryAccount))
| extend AccountName = iff(isnotempty(lUserAdded), lUserAdded, DirectoryAccount)
| project TimeGenerated, DeviceName, LocalGroup, LocalGroupSID, AddedAccountSID, UserAdded ,Actor, ActionType, AccountName, laccountdomain
| where DeviceName !contains Actor
// Provide details on actors that added users
// | summarize count() by Actor
// | join ADAZUsers
// on $left.Actor == $right.DirectoryAccount
// | render piechart
| extend HostName = iff(DeviceName has '.', substring(DeviceName, 0, indexof(DeviceName, '.')), DeviceName)
| extend DnsDomain = iff(DeviceName has '.', substring(DeviceName, indexof(DeviceName, '.') + 1), "")
Declared entities
Related content
Links established from declared identifiers and solution manifests.
Source provenance
GitHubDisplayed values come from files in Azure/Azure-Sentinel. They describe the published template, not your workspace configuration.
- Commit
9800e51↗- Source identifier
63aa43c2-e88e-4102-aea5-0432851c541a
GSTEP / CATALOG TRACKING
Added to catalog : 16 Sept 2026 · 05:49 UTC
Last change observed : 16 Sept 2026 · 05:49 UTC