Sigma rule: Azure Owner Removed From Application or Service Principal

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-f4b1bd48a48a, updated 2026-04-30T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Azure Owner Removed From Application or Service Principal
Status
test
Level
medium
Author
Austin Songer @austinsonger
Date
2021-09-03
Modified
2026-04-30
File
rules/cloud/azure/audit_logs/azure_owner_removed_from_application_or_service_principal.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Identifies when a owner is was removed from a application or service principal in Azure.

Log source

product
azure
service
auditlogs

Detection

selection:
    operationName:
        - 'Remove owner from service principal'
        - 'Remove owner from application'
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Owner being removed may be performed by a system administrator.
  • Verify whether the user identity, user agent, and/or hostname should be making changes in your environment.
  • Owner removed from unfamiliar users should be investigated. If known behavior is causing false positives, it can be exempted from the rule.

Tags

  • attack.stealth

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/audit_logs/azure_owner_removed_from_application_or_service_principal.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Azure Owner Removed From Application or Service Principal" by Austin Songer @austinsonger (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/cloud/azure/audit_logs/azure_owner_removed_from_application_or_service_principal.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: Azure Owner Removed From Application or Service Principal",
entity page, dataset version ref-f4b1bd48a48a, updated 2026-04-30T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/636e30d5-3736-42ea-96b1-e6e2f8429fd6 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 636e30d5-3736-42ea-96b1-e6e2f8429fd6, 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.