↳ GitHub sourceAnalytics ruleMedium

Multiple admin membership removals from newly created admin.

Description

'This query detects when newly created Global admin removes multiple existing global admins which can be an attempt by adversaries to lock down organization and retain sole access. Investigate reasoning and intention of multiple membership removal by new Global admins and take necessary actions accordingly.'
Rule type
Scheduled
Version
1.0.3
Declared status
Available
Query frequency
1h
Query period
7d
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 lookback = 7d; 
let timeframe = 1h; 
let GlobalAdminsRemoved = AuditLogs 
| where TimeGenerated > ago(timeframe) 
| where Category =~ "RoleManagement" 
| where AADOperationType in ("Unassign", "RemoveEligibleRole") 
| where ActivityDisplayName has_any ("Remove member from role", "Remove eligible member from role") 
| mv-apply TargetResource = TargetResources on 
  (
      where TargetResource.type =~ "User"
      | extend Target = tostring(TargetResource.userPrincipalName),
               props = TargetResource.modifiedProperties
  )
| mv-apply Property = props on 
      (
          where Property.displayName =~ "Role.DisplayName"
          | extend RoleName = trim('"',tostring(Property.oldValue))
      )
| where RoleName =~ "Global Administrator" // Add other Privileged role if applicable
| extend InitiatingAppName = tostring(InitiatedBy.app.displayName)
| extend InitiatingAppServicePrincipalId = tostring(InitiatedBy.app.servicePrincipalId)
| extend InitiatingUserPrincipalName = tostring(InitiatedBy.user.userPrincipalName)
| extend InitiatingAadUserId = tostring(InitiatedBy.user.id)
| extend InitiatingIpAddress = tostring(iff(isnotempty(InitiatedBy.user.ipAddress), InitiatedBy.user.ipAddress, InitiatedBy.app.ipAddress))
| extend Initiator = iif(isnotempty(InitiatingAppName), InitiatingAppName, InitiatingUserPrincipalName) 
| where Initiator != "MS-PIM" and Initiator != "MS-PIM-Fairfax"  // Filtering PIM events  
| summarize RemovedGlobalAdminTime = max(TimeGenerated), TargetAdmins = make_set(Target,100) by OperationName, RoleName, Initiator, InitiatingAppName, InitiatingAppServicePrincipalId, InitiatingUserPrincipalName, InitiatingAadUserId, InitiatingIpAddress, Result; 
let GlobalAdminsAdded = AuditLogs 
| where TimeGenerated > ago(lookback) 
| where Category =~ "RoleManagement" 
| where AADOperationType in ("Assign", "AssignEligibleRole") 
| where ActivityDisplayName has_any ("Add eligible member to role", "Add member to role") and Result == "success" 
| mv-apply TargetResource = TargetResources on 
  (
      where TargetResource.type =~ "User"
      | extend Target = tostring(TargetResource.userPrincipalName),
               props = TargetResource.modifiedProperties
  )
| mv-apply Property = props on 
      (
          where Property.displayName =~ "Role.DisplayName"
          | extend RoleName = trim('"',tostring(Property.newValue))
      )
| where RoleName =~ "Global Administrator" // Add other Privileged role if applicable
| extend InitiatingAppName = tostring(InitiatedBy.app.displayName)
| extend Initiator = iif(isnotempty(InitiatingAppName), InitiatingAppName, tostring(InitiatedBy.user.userPrincipalName)) 
| where Initiator != "MS-PIM" and Initiator != "MS-PIM-Fairfax"  // Filtering PIM events 
| summarize AddedGlobalAdminTime = max(TimeGenerated) by OperationName, RoleName, Target, Initiator, Result;
GlobalAdminsAdded 
| join kind= inner GlobalAdminsRemoved on $left.Target == $right.Initiator 
| where AddedGlobalAdminTime < RemovedGlobalAdminTime 
| extend NoofAdminsRemoved = array_length(TargetAdmins) 
| where NoofAdminsRemoved > 1
| project AddedGlobalAdminTime, Initiator, InitiatingAppName, InitiatingAppServicePrincipalId, InitiatingUserPrincipalName, InitiatingAadUserId, InitiatingIpAddress, Target, RemovedGlobalAdminTime, TargetAdmins, NoofAdminsRemoved
| extend TargetName = tostring(split(Target,'@',0)[0]), TargetUPNSuffix = tostring(split(Target,'@',1)[0])
| extend InitiatedByName = tostring(split(InitiatingUserPrincipalName,'@',0)[0]), InitiatedByUPNSuffix = tostring(split(InitiatingUserPrincipalName,'@',1)[0])

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
cda5928c-2c1e-4575-9dfa-07568bc27a4f
Additional source files 3Solutions/Microsoft Entra ID/Analytic Rules/MultipleAdmin_membership_removals_from_NewAdmin.yamlsource ↗Detections/AuditLogs/MultipleAdmin_membership_removals_from_NewAdmin.yamlmigration-note ↗Solutions/Microsoft Entra ID/Data/Solution_AAD.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.