# Activation of the Global Administrator role SHALL require approval

Activation of the Global Administrator role SHALL require approval. A Maester check for Entra ID, Privileged Identity Management.

Source: https://maester.dev/docs/tests/CISA.MS.AAD.7.6

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<div class="test-byline"><div class="test-byline-avatars"><a class="test-byline-avatar test-byline-avatar--author" href="/contributors/soulemike" title="Michael Soule · Original author"><img src="https://github.com/soulemike.png" alt="Michael Soule" width="28" height="28" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /></a><a class="test-byline-avatar" href="/contributors/thornicolai" title="Thor Nicolaï · Co-contributor"><img src="https://github.com/ThorNicolai.png" alt="Thor Nicolaï" width="28" height="28" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /></a><a class="test-byline-avatar" href="/contributors/jeanphilippegeorge" title="Jean-Philippe George · Co-contributor"><img src="https://github.com/JeanPhilippeGeorge.png" alt="Jean-Philippe George" width="28" height="28" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /></a></div><div class="test-byline-meta"><span class="test-byline-text">Contributed by <a href="/contributors/soulemike">Michael Soule</a> with 2 co-contributors</span><a class="test-byline-link" href="/contributors">All contributors →</a></div></div>

<p class="test-part">Part of <a href="/docs/tests/cisa">CISA</a> · Entra ID · Privileged Identity Management · <a href="/docs/tests">All checks</a></p>

```powershell title="Run this check"
Invoke-Maester -TestId CISA.MS.AAD.7.6
```

## Overview

Activation of the Global Administrator role SHALL require approval.

Rationale: Requiring approval for a user to activate Global Administrator, which provides unfettered access, makes it more challenging for an attacker to compromise the tenant with stolen credentials and it provides visibility of activities indicating a compromise is taking place.

#### Remediation action:

1. In **Entra admin center** select **Identity governance** and **Privileged Identity Management**.
2. Under **Manage**, select **Microsoft Entra roles**.
3. Under **Manage**, select **[Roles](https://entra.microsoft.com/#view/Microsoft_Azure_PIMCommon/ResourceMenuBlade/~/roles/resourceId//resourceType/tenant/provider/aadroles)**.
4. Select the **Global Administrator** role in the list.
5. Click **Settings**.
6. Click **Edit**.
7. Select the **Require approval to activate** option.
8. Click **Update**.
9. Review the list of groups that are actively assigned to the **Global Administrator** role. If any of the groups are enrolled in PIM for Groups, then also apply the same configurations under step 2 above to each PIM group's Member settings.

#### Related links

* [Entra admin center - Privileged Identity Management | Microsoft Entra roles](https://entra.microsoft.com/#view/Microsoft_Azure_PIMCommon/ResourceMenuBlade/~/roles/resourceId//resourceType/tenant/provider/aadroles)
* [CISA 7.6 Highly Privileged User Access - MS.AAD.7.6v1](https://github.com/cisagov/ScubaGear/blob/main/PowerShell/ScubaGear/baselines/aad.md#msaad76v1)
* [CISA ScubaGear Rego Reference](https://github.com/cisagov/ScubaGear/blob/main/PowerShell/ScubaGear/Rego/AADConfig.rego#L938)

## Details

<details>
<summary>Every attribute of this check</summary>

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Test ID | CISA.MS.AAD.7.6 |
| Severity | Medium |
| Suite | CISA |
| Product | Entra ID |
| Feature | Privileged Identity Management |
| Area | Privileged access |
| Resource type | DirectoryRole |
| User impact | Low |
| Implementation cost | Low |
| MITRE ATT&CK | T1098.003 Additional Cloud Roles, T1548.005 Temporary Elevated Cloud Access |
| Supports benchmark | CISA SCuBA Secure Configuration Baselines for Microsoft 365 (version ScubaGear main, 2026-10-11), requirement MS.AAD.7.6 |
| Criticality | SHALL |
| Upstream requirement | MS.AAD.7.6v1 |
| Supports controls | cisa-scuba:MS.AAD.7.6, nist-800-53-r5:AC-6(1) |
| PowerShell test | [Test-MtCisaRequireActivationApproval](https://github.com/maester365/maester/blob/main/tests/cisa/entra/Test.CISA.MS.AAD.7.6.ps1) |
| Services | Graph |
| Compatible licenses | AAD_PREMIUM_P2, Entra_Identity_Governance |

</details>

## Source

- Test: [`tests/cisa/entra/Test.CISA.MS.AAD.7.6.ps1`](https://github.com/maester365/maester/blob/main/tests/cisa/entra/Test.CISA.MS.AAD.7.6.ps1)
- Documentation: [`tests/cisa/entra/Test.CISA.MS.AAD.7.6.md`](https://github.com/maester365/maester/blob/main/tests/cisa/entra/Test.CISA.MS.AAD.7.6.md)