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Users Can Create Security Groups

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Risk Level: High (not acceptable risk)
Rule ID: ActiveDirectory-017

Ensure that "Users can create security groups in Azure portals" is set to "No" within your Microsoft Entra ID settings in order to make sure that non-privileged users are not able to create security groups via the Access Panel and the Azure administration portal.

This rule resolution is part of the Conformity Security & Compliance tool for Azure.

Security

Security groups are used to manage member and machine access to Azure shared resources for a group of users. When "Users can create security groups in Azure portals" feature is enabled, all users in your Microsoft Entra ID account are allowed to create new security groups and add members to those groups. Unless your business requires permission delegation, security group creation should be restricted to Microsoft Entra ID administrators only.

Audit

To determine if non-privileged users have the ability to create security groups in Azure portals, perform the following actions:

Note: Getting "Users can create security groups in Azure portals" configuration status using Microsoft Graph API or Azure CLI is not currently supported.

Using Azure Console

01 Sign in to Azure Management Console.

02 Navigate to Microsoft Entra ID blade at https://portal.azure.com/#blade/Microsoft_AAD_IAM/ActiveDirectoryMenuBlade/Overview.

03 In the navigation panel, select Groups.

04 In the Settings section, select General to access Microsoft Entra ID user group general settings.

05 On the General settings page, under Security Groups, check Users can create security groups in Azure portals setting configuration. If the verified setting is set to Yes, any Microsoft Entra ID users, including those without administrative privileges, can create security groups using the Access Panel and Azure administration portal, therefore the current Microsoft Entra ID user group configuration is not compliant.

06 Repeat steps no. 3 – 5 for each Microsoft Microsoft Entra ID that you want to examine.

Remediation / Resolution

By setting "Users can create security groups in Azure portals" to "No", only Azure Microsoft Entra ID administrators can create security groups, enhancing the access security to your Azure cloud resources. To disable the necessary setting, perform the following actions:

Note: Restricting security group creation to Microsoft Entra ID administrators only using Microsoft Graph API or Azure CLI is not currently supported.

Using Azure Console

01 Sign in to Azure Management Console.

02 Navigate to Microsoft Entra ID blade at https://portal.azure.com/#blade/Microsoft_AAD_IAM/ActiveDirectoryMenuBlade/Overview.

03 In the navigation panel, select Groups.

04 In the Settings section, select General to access Microsoft Entra ID user group general settings.

05 On the General settings page, under Security Groups, select No next to Users can create security groups in Azure portals configuration setting to disable non-privileged users' ability to create security groups using Azure portals.

06 Click Save to apply the changes. If the request is successful, the following message should be displayed: "Successfully updated group settings". Once the configuration changes are active, only the Microsoft Entra ID users with an administrator role can create security groups using the Access Panel and the Azure administration portal.

07 Repeat steps no. 3 – 6 for each Microsoft Entra ID that you want to reconfigure in order to restrict security groups creation to Microsoft Entra ID administrators only.

References

Publication date Aug 30, 2019

Related ActiveDirectory rules