Microsoft Azure outpost permissions ↗

When onboarding Microsoft Azure outposts, Cortex XSIAM creates an authentication template that requests the permissions needed for monitoring your cloud environment. Depending on which security capabilities you select in the onboarding wizard, different permissions are requested.

The following tables are organized by the CSP permissions being requested as well as the purpose (and where relevant, the scope).

Module: Required base permissions

The following Azure roles are required for the Required base permissions module.

Role: Key Vault access policy

The following Azure permissions are granted by the Key Vault access policy role.

Permission	Assigned To (Component)	Applies To (Scope)	Principal (Identity)	Description
Key Vault secrets: get / delete / list / purge / set	cortex-<keyvault> (Key Vault access policy)	Resource group	Outpost app registration SP	Key Vault access policy granting the orchestrator full secret lifecycle management for secrets used by the outpost (e.g. unmanaged registry credentials).

Role: Storage Blob Data Contributor

The following Azure permissions are granted by the Storage Blob Data Contributor role.

Permission	Assigned To (Component)	Applies To (Scope)	Principal (Identity)	Description
Storage Blob Data Contributor (built-in)	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group) [Condition: container *bc-sc* input/output paths]	Resource group	Outpost app registration SP	Built-in role granting read/write access to communication blob storage (input/output containers). Conditioned to *bc-sc* containers.

Role: Storage Queue Data Message Processor

The following Azure permissions are granted by the Storage Queue Data Message Processor role.

Permission	Assigned To (Component)	Applies To (Scope)	Principal (Identity)	Description
Storage Queue Data Message Processor (built-in)	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group) [Condition: queue name like *bc-sq*]	Resource group	Outpost app registration SP	Built-in role granting read/process access to Storage Queue messages used for outpost event processing. Conditioned to queues matching *bc-sq*.

Role: wo-role

The following Azure permissions are granted by the wo-role role.

Permission	Assigned To (Component)	Applies To (Scope)	Principal (Identity)	Description
Microsoft.Compute/locations/usages/read	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group)	Resource group	Outpost app registration SP	View regional usage and quota limits for compute resources. Ensures the outpost deployment stays within the Azure subscription's limits.
Microsoft.Compute/skus/read	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group)	Resource group	Outpost app registration SP	View available VM sizes (SKUs). Enables dynamic size selection for scanner or proxy VMs based on availability and requirements.
Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/delete	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group)	Resource group	Outpost app registration SP	Delete a scanner or proxy VM. Necessary for secure lifecycle management; cleans up temporary VMs after a security task is complete.
Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/read	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group)	Resource group	Outpost app registration SP	View the properties of a scanner or proxy VM. Allows the system to verify status and configuration of the ephemeral VMs used for scanning.
Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/write	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group)	Resource group	Outpost app registration SP	Create a scanner or proxy VM. Core provisioning permission required to dynamically deploy ephemeral scanner or proxy VMs spun up to perform specific security tasks.
Microsoft.ManagedIdentity/userAssignedIdentities/assign/action	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group)	Resource group	Outpost app registration SP	Assign a user-assigned managed identity to a resource. Facilitates secure, credential-less access by associating an identity with outpost resources, eliminating stored static credentials.
Microsoft.Network/applicationSecurityGroups/joinIpConfiguration/action	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group)	Resource group	Outpost app registration SP	Attach a NIC IP configuration to an Application Security Group. Allows logical grouping of VMs for network security segmentation so scanner or proxy VMs inherit the correct security policies.
Microsoft.Network/networkInterfaces/delete	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group)	Resource group	Outpost app registration SP	Delete NICs. Critical for network security hygiene; cleans up temporary or unused network resources to prevent dangling resources.
Microsoft.Network/networkInterfaces/read	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group)	Resource group	Outpost app registration SP	View NIC properties. Provides visibility into the network configuration of scanner and proxy VMs.
Microsoft.Network/networkInterfaces/write	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group)	Resource group	Outpost app registration SP	Create or update NICs. Required to configure the network for secure and isolated communication for scanner/proxy VMs.
Microsoft.Network/networkSecurityGroups/join/action	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group)	Resource group	Outpost app registration SP	Associate NICs or subnets with a Network Security Group (NSG). Applies specific traffic-filtering rules to scanner resources so they operate within a secured network boundary.
Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks/subnets/join/action	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group)	Resource group	Outpost app registration SP	Attach NICs to a subnet. Places the scanner or proxy VM into the designated virtual network subnet so it operates within the defined network topology.
Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks/subnets/join/action	Customer-provided Virtual Network	Customer virtual network	Outpost app registration SP	Allows the scanner NIC to join the customer-supplied subnet, which lives outside the outpost resource group. The workload-orchestrator role is additionally assigned on the customer VNet to avoid 403 LinkedAuthorizationFailed.
Microsoft.ResourceGraph/resources/read	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group)	Resource group	Outpost app registration SP	Query spot eviction history rates using Azure Resource Graph. Enables dynamic and cost-effective VM size selection by predicting spot instance stability.

Module: ADS

The following Azure roles are required for the ADS module.

Role: Storage Blob Data Contributor

The following Azure permissions are granted by the Storage Blob Data Contributor role.

Permission	Assigned To (Component)	Applies To (Scope)	Principal (Identity)	Description
Storage Blob Data Contributor (built-in)	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group) [Condition: container *bc-sc* input/output paths]	Resource group	agentless (saas-outpost-id) managed identity	Built-in role granting the ADS/agentless scanner read/write access to communication blob storage (input/output containers). Conditioned to *bc-sc* containers.

Role: wo-role

The following Azure permissions are granted by the wo-role role.

Permission	Assigned To (Component)	Applies To (Scope)	Principal (Identity)	Description
Microsoft.Compute/disks/delete	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group)	Resource group	Outpost app registration SP	Delete disks after scanning has finished. Critical for remediation and resource hygiene, preventing data exfiltration and reducing the attack surface; ensures temporary disks used during analysis do not remain as dangling resources.
Microsoft.Compute/disks/read	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group)	Resource group	Outpost app registration SP	Retrieve disk metadata. Used to identify disk properties and states, such as detecting dangling disks, ensuring accurate inventory and assessment of storage resources within the environment.
Microsoft.Compute/disks/write	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group)	Resource group	Outpost app registration SP	Create a disk from a snapshot before attaching it to a workload. Essential for dynamic scanning and analysis without affecting the live environment; allows creation of a temporary disk copy to be analyzed securely by the scanner.

Module: DSPM

The following Azure roles are required for the DSPM module.

Role: Key Vault access policy

The following Azure permissions are granted by the Key Vault access policy role.

Permission	Assigned To (Component)	Applies To (Scope)	Principal (Identity)	Description
Key Vault secrets: get / list	cortex-<keyvault> (Key Vault access policy)	Resource group	dspm (dspm-outpost-id) managed identity	Key Vault access policy granting the DSPM scanner read access to secrets needed during data classification scans.

Role: private-endpoint-role

The following Azure permissions are granted by the private-endpoint-role role.

Permission	Assigned To (Component)	Applies To (Scope)	Principal (Identity)	Description
Microsoft.Network/operations/read	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group)	Resource group	Outpost app registration SP	View available network-related operations. Validates that requested network configurations (private endpoints) are compatible with the current Azure environment.
Microsoft.Network/privateEndpoints/delete	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group)	Resource group	Outpost app registration SP	Delete private endpoints. Critical for network security hygiene and resource cleanup; removes temporary network resources used for private scanning.
Microsoft.Network/privateEndpoints/read	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group)	Resource group	Outpost app registration SP	View private endpoint properties. Provides visibility into private connections to resources like storage accounts, ensuring data scanning occurs over secure, private channels.
Microsoft.Network/privateEndpoints/write	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group)	Resource group	Outpost app registration SP	Create or update private endpoints. Establishes secure, isolated connections to managed services without exposing traffic to the public internet.

Role: Storage Blob Data Contributor

The following Azure permissions are granted by the Storage Blob Data Contributor role.

Permission	Assigned To (Component)	Applies To (Scope)	Principal (Identity)	Description
Storage Blob Data Contributor (built-in)	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group) [Condition: container *bc-sc* input/output paths AND *artifact*]	Resource group	dspm (dspm-outpost-id) managed identity	Built-in role granting the DSPM scanner read/write access to communication blob storage and artifact containers. Conditioned to *bc-sc* and *artifact* containers.

Role: wo-role

The following Azure permissions are granted by the wo-role role.

Permission	Assigned To (Component)	Applies To (Scope)	Principal (Identity)	Description
Microsoft.Compute/disks/delete	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group)	Resource group	Outpost app registration SP	Delete disks after scanning has finished. Critical for remediation and resource hygiene, preventing data exfiltration and reducing the attack surface; ensures temporary disks used during analysis do not remain as dangling resources.
Microsoft.Compute/disks/read	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group)	Resource group	Outpost app registration SP	Retrieve disk metadata. Used to identify disk properties and states, such as detecting dangling disks, ensuring accurate inventory and assessment of storage resources within the environment.
Microsoft.Compute/disks/write	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group)	Resource group	Outpost app registration SP	Create a disk from a snapshot before attaching it to a workload. Essential for dynamic scanning and analysis without affecting the live environment; allows creation of a temporary disk copy to be analyzed securely by the scanner.

Module: Registry

The following Azure roles are required for the Registry module.

Role: Key Vault access policy

The following Azure permissions are granted by the Key Vault access policy role.

Permission	Assigned To (Component)	Applies To (Scope)	Principal (Identity)	Description
Key Vault secrets: get / list	cortex-<keyvault> (Key Vault access policy)	Resource group	registry (registry-outpost-id) managed identity	Key Vault access policy granting the registry scanner read access to secrets (e.g. unmanaged registry credentials) needed during registry scans.

Role: Storage Blob Data Contributor

The following Azure permissions are granted by the Storage Blob Data Contributor role.

Permission	Assigned To (Component)	Applies To (Scope)	Principal (Identity)	Description
Storage Blob Data Contributor (built-in)	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group) [Condition: container *bc-sc* input/output paths]	Resource group	registry (registry-outpost-id) managed identity	Built-in role granting the registry scanner read/write access to communication blob storage (input/output containers). Conditioned to *bc-sc* containers.

Module: Serverless

The following Azure roles are required for the Serverless module.

Role: Storage Blob Data Contributor

The following Azure permissions are granted by the Storage Blob Data Contributor role.

Permission	Assigned To (Component)	Applies To (Scope)	Principal (Identity)	Description
Storage Blob Data Contributor (built-in)	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group) [Condition: container *bc-sc* input/output paths]	Resource group	serverless (serverless-outpost-id) managed identity	Built-in role granting the serverless scanner read/write access to communication blob storage (input/output containers). Conditioned to *bc-sc* containers.

Module: Proxy

The following Azure roles are required for the Proxy module.

Role: wo-role

The following Azure permissions are granted by the wo-role role.

Permission	Assigned To (Component)	Applies To (Scope)	Principal (Identity)	Description
Microsoft.Network/publicIPAddresses/delete	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group)	Resource group	Outpost app registration SP	Delete unused public IP addresses. Critical for network security hygiene and cost management; cleans up temporary public IPs used by proxy VMs.
Microsoft.Network/publicIPAddresses/join/action	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group)	Resource group	Outpost app registration SP	Attach public IP addresses to the NIC of a proxy VM. Necessary for secure network configuration of the egress proxy.
Microsoft.Network/publicIPAddresses/read	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group)	Resource group	Outpost app registration SP	List existing static public IP addresses. Identifies available IPs that can be used by proxy VMs for egress traffic.
Microsoft.Network/publicIPAddresses/write	cortex-<resources_sufix> (Resource Group)	Resource group	Outpost app registration SP	Create or update public IP addresses. Provisions necessary public entry/exit points for the isolated environment's communication needs (proxy VMs).

Module: Graph Application Integration

The following Azure roles are required for the Graph Application Integration module.

Role: Microsoft Graph application permission

The following Azure permissions are granted by the Microsoft Graph application permission role.

Permission	Assigned To (Component)	Applies To (Scope)	Principal (Identity)	Description
Microsoft Graph Application.Read.All	Monitored Azure Tenant (Admin Consent)	Azure tenant	Outpost app registration (application)	Microsoft Graph application permission enabling the "Microsoft Graph Application" integration for asset discovery and risk management. Requested at onboarding and activated during Admin Consent.