IMPORTANT: No additional bug fixes or documentation updates will be released for this version. For the latest information, see the current release documentation.

« Azure Blob Permissions Modification Azure Conditional Access Policy Modified »

› › ›

Azure Command Execution on Virtual Machine

edit

Azure Command Execution on Virtual Machine

edit

Identifies command execution on a virtual machine (VM) in Azure. A Virtual Machine Contributor role lets you manage virtual machines, but not access them, nor access the virtual network or storage account they’re connected to. However, commands can be run via PowerShell on the VM, which execute as System. Other roles, such as certain Administrator roles may be able to execute commands on a VM as well.

Rule type: query

Rule indices:

filebeat-*
logs-azure*

Severity: medium

Risk score: 47

Runs every: 5 minutes

Searches indices from: now-25m (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time)

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

References:

Tags:

Elastic
Cloud
Azure
Continuous Monitoring
SecOps
Log Auditing

Version: 7 (version history)

Added (Elastic Stack release): 7.10.0

Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 8.4.0

Rule authors: Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Potential false positives

edit

Command execution on a virtual machine may be done by a system or network administrator. Verify whether the username, hostname, and/or resource name should be making changes in your environment. Command execution from unfamiliar users or hosts should be investigated. If known behavior is causing false positives, it can be exempted from the rule.

Investigation guide

edit

Rule query

edit

event.dataset:azure.activitylogs and azure.activitylogs.operation_name
:"MICROSOFT.COMPUTE/VIRTUALMACHINES/RUNCOMMAND/ACTION" and
event.outcome:(Success or success)

Threat mapping

edit

Framework: MITRE ATT&CK^TM

Tactic:
- Name: Execution
- ID: TA0002
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0002/
Technique:
- Name: Command and Scripting Interpreter
- ID: T1059
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/

Rule version history

edit

Version 7 (8.4.0 release)

Formatting only

Version 5 (7.13.0 release)

Formatting only

Version 4 (7.12.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

event.dataset:azure.activitylogs and azure.activitylogs.operation_name
:MICROSOFT.COMPUTE/VIRTUALMACHINES/RUNCOMMAND/ACTION and
event.outcome:(Success or success)

Version 3 (7.11.2 release)

Formatting only

Version 2 (7.11.0 release)

Updated query, changed from:

event.dataset:azure.activitylogs and azure.activitylogs.operation_name
:MICROSOFT.COMPUTE/VIRTUALMACHINES/RUNCOMMAND/ACTION and
event.outcome:Success

« Azure Blob Permissions Modification Azure Conditional Access Policy Modified »