Azure Activity Logs: New CloudShell Created via Microsoft.Portal Consoles Write

Alerts on Azure portal activity indicating a Cloud Shell console was created.

FreeReviewedSigma · Medium · v5

Product: azure
Service: activitylogs
Author: Austin Songer (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published: 2021-09-21
Updated: 2026-07-31

ATT&CK techniques

Execution

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
- T1059Command and Scripting Interpreter
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule flags Azure Activity Log events where the portal writes to create a CloudShell console using the Microsoft.Portal/Consoles/WRITE operation. Attackers may leverage CloudShell to run commands or scripts from an interactive environment under the Azure portal. The detection relies on Azure Activity Logs capturing the operationName for the console write request.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1059 — drag to rearrange

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Malicious IIS Worker Process Spawning Command Shell after ASP.NET ViewState Injection (via process_creation)

Suspicious MSSQL xp_cmdshell Enablement via sp_configure (via process_creation)

Suspicious Reconnaissance and Payload Download by Node Web Process

Malicious Netcat Reverse Shell via Masqueraded StartMenuExperienceHost

Azure Activity Logs: New CloudShell Created via Microsoft.Portal Consoles Write

Pivot detection · T1059 · 9 related

Changelog

v5
Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
v4
Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
v3
Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
v2
Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
v1
No changelog recorded for this version.2026-07-30

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.

azure-activity-logs-cloud-shell-created-via-microsoft-portal-consoles-write-72af37e2

title: "Azure Activity Logs: New CloudShell Created via Microsoft.Portal Consoles Write"
id: bf4b6781-9520-44b7-b99c-fd49639f132d
status: test
description: This rule flags Azure Activity Log events where the portal writes to create a CloudShell console using the Microsoft.Portal/Consoles/WRITE operation. Attackers may leverage CloudShell to run commands or scripts from an interactive environment under the Azure portal. The detection relies on Azure Activity Logs capturing the operationName for the console write request.
references:
  - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/role-based-access-control/resource-provider-operations
  - https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/cloud/azure/activity_logs/azure_new_cloudshell_created.yml
author: Austin Songer, Huntrule Team
date: 2021-09-21
modified: 2022-08-23
tags:
  - attack.execution
  - attack.t1059
logsource:
  product: azure
  service: activitylogs
detection:
  selection:
    operationName: MICROSOFT.PORTAL/CONSOLES/WRITE
  condition: selection
falsepositives:
  - A new cloudshell may be created by a system administrator.
level: medium
license: DRL-1.1
related:
  - id: 72af37e2-ec32-47dc-992b-bc288a2708cb
    type: derived

Convert

This rule as a query you can run. Uses no unlock credit.

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