Sigma rule: Application Using Device Code Authentication Flow

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-ae3f36c8fa8f, updated 2022-06-01T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Application Using Device Code Authentication Flow
Status
test
Level
medium
Author
Mark Morowczynski '@markmorow', Bailey Bercik '@baileybercik'
Date
2022-06-01
File
rules/cloud/azure/signin_logs/azure_app_device_code_authentication.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Device code flow is an OAuth 2.0 protocol flow specifically for input constrained devices and is not used in all environments.
If this type of flow is seen in the environment and not being used in an input constrained device scenario, further investigation is warranted.
This can be a misconfigured application or potentially something malicious.

Log source

product
azure
service
signinlogs

Detection

selection:
    properties.message: Device Code
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Applications that are input constrained will need to use device code flow and are valid authentications.

Tags

  • attack.stealth
  • attack.t1078
  • attack.persistence
  • attack.privilege-escalation
  • attack.initial-access

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

References

Read on 2026-11-03T00:58:21.399Z under licence sigma-drl-1.1@d5f4c36a from https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/cloud/azure/signin_logs/azure_app_device_code_authentication.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Application Using Device Code Authentication Flow" by Mark Morowczynski '@markmorow', Bailey Bercik '@baileybercik' (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/cloud/azure/signin_logs/azure_app_device_code_authentication.yml.
    Licensed under the Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/Detection-Rule-License

    Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1

Cite this page

Dragons Eye Ransomware Tracker, "Sigma rule: Application Using Device Code Authentication Flow",
entity page, dataset version ref-ae3f36c8fa8f, updated 2022-06-01T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/248649b7-d64f-46f0-9fb2-a52774166fb5 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 248649b7-d64f-46f0-9fb2-a52774166fb5, commit ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84.

Pages change. The dataset version identifies the data, but no archive of old versions is kept, so this citation cannot be replayed later.