Google Workspace Admin Role Assigned to a User or Group
Assigning an administrative role to a user or group grants elevated privileges within Google Workspace, including access to the Google Admin console and the ability to manage domain resources and applications.…
Description
Assigning an administrative role to a user or group grants elevated privileges within Google Workspace, including access to the Google Admin console and the ability to manage domain resources and applications. Adversaries may assign administrator roles to an existing account or a newly created account/group to establish persistence, facilitate privilege escalation, and enable follow-on actions across the tenant. In particular, users with Super Admin privileges can bypass single sign-on (SSO) if it is enabled in Google Workspace.
Detection logic
Its licence does not clear it for publishing here
Sunturai publishes a detection's own text where the licence it arrived under has been reviewed and permits it, and Elastic License 2.0 has not. The query as its source wrote it, its canonical form and the hash that pins this revision are in the workspace record.
Detection requirements
- Platform
- ContainersESXiIaaSIdentity ProviderLinuxmacOSNetwork DevicesOffice SuiteSaaSWindows
The rule states no platform. This is derived from the ATT&CK technique it maps to.
- Log source category
- event_index
Known benign triggers
- Google 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.
MITRE ATT&CK mappings
0 exclusive techniques.This is coverage no other published rule has; it is not this rule's total technique count.
References
| Reference | Cited by |
|---|---|
| support.google.com/a/answer/172176?hl=en | Only this detection cites it |
| www.elastic.co/security-labs/google-workspace-attack-surface-part-one | 28 |
| www.elastic.co/security-labs/google-workspace-attack-surface-part-two | 24 |
From the source
- At source
- Open at source
- Upstream identifier
- 68994a6c-c7ba-4e82-b476-26a26877adf6
- Tagged by the source as
- Data Source: Google WorkspaceData Source: Google Workspace Audit LogsDomain: CloudDomain: SaaSNoise: LowPerformance: NormalPlatform: Google WorkspaceResources: Investigation GuideRule Type: Custom Query (KQL)Tactic: PersistenceTactic: Privilege EscalationUse Case: Identity and Access Audit
Licence
- Published under
- Elastic License 2.0Read the licence
- Attribution
- Required
Authorship
- Written by
- Published
- Sep 20, 2026
- Version
- 3