Understanding Azure Security Reader Role and RBAC

Azure Security Reader Role is a unique role that allows users to view Azure resources without having any permissions to make changes. This role is based on the concept of Azure Role-Based Access Control (RBAC).

The Azure Security Reader Role is designed to provide a security-focused view of Azure resources, without granting any permissions to modify or delete resources. This is particularly useful for security teams or compliance officers who need to monitor Azure resources without having the ability to make changes.

To understand the Azure Security Reader Role, it's essential to grasp the basics of RBAC, which is a feature that allows you to manage access to Azure resources by assigning users to specific roles.

The Azure Security Reader Role is a privileged role that provides global read-only access to security-related features across various Microsoft services. It enables users to view security-related policies, threats, and alerts across Microsoft 365 services.

Users with this role have read-only access to all information in the Microsoft 365 Defender portal, Microsoft Entra ID Protection, Privileged Identity Management, and Microsoft Purview compliance portal. They can also read Microsoft Entra sign-in reports and audit logs.

The Security Reader role grants access to various features, including:

Here are some specific actions that users with the Security Reader role can perform:

Note that users with this role cannot sign up for Microsoft Entra Privileged Identity Management or make any changes to it. However, they can activate additional roles, such as the Privileged Role Administrator, if they are eligible for them.

The Security Reader role is an essential part of Azure RBAC (Role-Based Access Control), which enables access management for Azure resources. It's an authorization system built into the Azure Resource Manager, allowing you to define which specific users should be allowed access to Azure cloud resources and assign a set of privileges for each user group.

The scope of the Security Reader role is limited to the specific resources and features it grants access to, making it a secure and controlled way to manage access to sensitive information.

A role definition in Azure is a collection of permissions that lists actions that can be performed, such as read, write, and delete.

Azure includes several built-in roles that you can use, like the Virtual Machine Contributor role, which allows users to create and manage virtual machines.

You can also create your own Azure custom roles if the built-in roles don't meet your organization's specific needs.

In Azure, data actions enable you to grant access to data within an object, allowing users to read or write data, for example.

Role assignments enable you to attach role definitions to specific users, groups, or identities at a certain scope, granting access to Azure resources.

Multiple role assignments are additive, so your effective permissions are the sum of your role assignments, meaning that adding one role can override the permissions of another.

A role definition is a collection of permissions that lists the actions that can be performed, such as read, write, and delete.

Roles can be high-level, like owner, or specific, like virtual machine reader. Azure includes several built-in roles that you can use, and one example is the Virtual Machine Contributor role, which allows a user to create and manage virtual machines.

You can create your own Azure custom roles if the built-in roles don't meet the specific needs of your organization.

Azure has data actions that enable you to grant access to data within an object. For example, if a user has read data access to a storage account, then they can read the blobs or messages within that storage account.

Here are some examples of built-in roles and their corresponding actions:

Role definitions are typically called roles, and they list the actions that can be performed.

Role assignments enable you to attach role definitions to specific users, groups, service principals, or managed identities at a certain scope.

By granting specific access, you can control who can perform certain actions in Azure. Removing the assignment revokes this access.

A role assignment is like a key that unlocks access to specific resources and scopes. You can assign a role to a user, group, or service principal, and they'll have access to the resources and actions defined by that role.

In Azure RBAC, role assignments are additive, which means your effective permissions are the sum of your role assignments. This is demonstrated in an example where a user is granted the Contributor role at the subscription scope and the Reader role on a resource group.

Role assignments can be scoped to specific resources, such as a resource group, or to the subscription level. For instance, you can assign a contributor role to the marketing group only for the pharma-sales resource group, enabling them to create or manage Azure resources within that group.

This level of control allows you to fine-tune access and permissions for different teams and users, ensuring that everyone has the access they need to perform their tasks.

The Directory feature in Microsoft Entra is a powerful tool for managing user roles and permissions. It allows administrators to grant specific access to guest users, non-admin users, and service principals.

You can grant a specific set of guest users read access to the directory instead of granting it to all guest users. This is useful when you want to limit the access of certain guests.

Directory Readers role can be used to grant service principals access to the directory where Directory.Read.All is not an option. This is a more restrictive way of granting access compared to granting it to all service principals.

Here are some of the actions that can be performed by the Directory Readers role:

These actions allow Directory Readers to read various properties of administrative units, contacts, devices, directory roles, groups, and users. This is a crucial part of managing user roles and permissions in Microsoft Entra.

Attribute and Access Control is a crucial aspect of Azure Security Reader Role. Users with this role can read custom security attribute keys and values for supported Microsoft Entra objects, including users, devices, service principals, and managed identities.

The Attribute Assignment Reader role allows users to read all properties of attribute sets, custom security attribute definitions, and custom security attribute values for specific objects. This includes reading all properties of attribute sets, custom security attribute definitions, and custom security attribute values for devices, service principals, and users.

Azure RBAC uses role assignments to control access to resources. A role assignment consists of three elements: security principal, role definition, and scope. Users with the Attribute Definition Reader role can read the definition of custom security attribute definitions and all properties of attribute sets.

Here are some key actions associated with the Attribute Assignment Reader role:

Azure RBAC roles define users' actions, such as write, delete, and read, and are used to control access to resources. Users with the Attribute Definition Reader role can read the definition of custom security attribute definitions and all properties of attribute sets.

Attribute Assignment is a crucial aspect of Attribute and Access Control. Users with the Attribute Assignment Reader role can read custom security attribute keys and values for supported Microsoft Entra objects.

This role provides access to specific actions, including reading all properties of attribute sets and custom security attribute definitions. The Attribute Assignment Reader role can also read custom security attribute values for devices, service principals, and users.

To give you a better idea of the actions available to the Attribute Assignment Reader role, here's a breakdown of the permissions:

These permissions enable the Attribute Assignment Reader role to access specific attribute values, which is essential for managing attribute assignments in Microsoft Entra.

Reading audit logs for custom security attributes is a crucial aspect of attribute and access control. This allows you to track changes to custom security attribute values.

The Attribute Log Reader role enables you to read audit logs for custom security attribute value changes and definition changes, as well as assignments.

You can read audit logs related to custom security attributes using the "microsoft.directory/customSecurityAttributeAuditLogs/allProperties/read" action.

Users with the Attribute Log Reader role can read audit logs for custom security attribute changes, but they cannot configure diagnostic settings for custom security attributes or read audit logs for other events.

Here's a summary of what you can and can't do with the Attribute Log Reader role:

Role-Based Access Control is a fundamental concept in Azure security. It allows you to manage access to Azure resources by assigning Azure roles, which define permissions and actions users can perform.

These role assignments consist of three elements: security principal, role definition, and scope. Understanding this concept is crucial in Azure RBAC.

Azure RBAC uses a token to determine if a user has access to a resource. The token includes the user's group memberships, including transitive group memberships. This is an important step in the evaluation logic.

Here are the high-level steps Azure RBAC uses to determine if you have access to a resource:

Azure provides various built-in roles, including a virtual machine contributor role that allows users to create and manage VMs. You can also define custom roles using data actions to grant access to data stored in a specific object.

Some of the built-in roles include:

Azure RBAC can be difficult to manage when dealing with hundreds of role assignments. That's where Azure attribute-based access control (ABAC) comes in, allowing you to add role assignment conditions for fine-grained access control.

To get the most out of the Azure Security Reader role, it's essential to follow best practices.

The Azure Security Reader role should only be assigned to users who need to view security information, not those who need to make changes. This helps prevent accidental security breaches.

Limit the number of users with the Azure Security Reader role to only those who require access to security information. This reduces the risk of unauthorized access.

Regularly review and update the list of users with the Azure Security Reader role to ensure it remains accurate and secure.

By following these best practices, you can ensure the Azure Security Reader role is used effectively and securely.