Google Workspace Admin Role Assigned to a User
editGoogle Workspace Admin Role Assigned to a User
editDetects when an admin role is assigned to a Google Workspace user. An adversary may assign an admin role to a user in order to elevate the permissions of another user account and persist in their target’s environment.
Rule type: query
Rule indices:
- filebeat-*
- logs-google_workspace*
Severity: medium
Risk score: 47
Runs every: 10 minutes
Searches indices from: now-130m (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time
)
Maximum alerts per execution: 100
References:
Tags:
- Elastic
- Cloud
- Google Workspace
- Continuous Monitoring
- SecOps
- Identity and Access
Version: 14 (version history)
Added (Elastic Stack release): 7.11.0
Last modified (Elastic Stack release): 8.4.0
Rule authors: Elastic
Rule license: Elastic License v2
Potential false positives
editGoogle Workspace admin role assignments may be modified by system administrators. Verify that the configuration change was expected. Exceptions can be added to this rule to filter expected behavior.
Investigation guide
edit### Important Information Regarding Google Workspace Event Lag Times - As per Google's documentation, Google Workspace administrators may observe lag times ranging from minutes up to 3 days between the time of an event's occurrence and the event being visible in the Google Workspace admin/audit logs. - This rule is configured to run every 10 minutes with a lookback time of 130 minutes. - To reduce the risk of false negatives, consider reducing the interval that the Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) Filebeat module polls Google's reporting API for new events. - By default, `var.interval` is set to 2 hours (2h). Consider changing this interval to a lower value, such as 10 minutes (10m). - See the following references for further information: - https://support.google.com/a/answer/7061566 - https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/current/filebeat-module-google_workspace.html
Rule query
editevent.dataset:google_workspace.admin and event.provider:admin and event.category:iam and event.action:ASSIGN_ROLE
Threat mapping
editFramework: MITRE ATT&CKTM
-
Tactic:
- Name: Persistence
- ID: TA0003
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0003/
-
Technique:
- Name: Account Manipulation
- ID: T1098
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1098/
Rule version history
edit- Version 14 (8.4.0 release)
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- Formatting only
- Version 12 (8.3.0 release)
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- Formatting only
- Version 10 (8.2.0 release)
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- Formatting only
- Version 6 (8.0.0 release)
-
-
Updated query, changed from:
event.dataset:(gsuite.admin or google_workspace.admin) and event.provider:admin and event.category:iam and event.action:ASSIGN_ROLE
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- Version 5 (7.15.0 release)
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- Formatting only
- Version 4 (7.13.0 release)
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- Formatting only
- Version 3 (7.12.0 release)
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- Formatting only
- Version 2 (7.11.2 release)
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- Formatting only