security: runHuntingQuery

Namespace: microsoft.graph.security

Important

APIs under the /beta version in Microsoft Graph are subject to change. Use of these APIs in production applications is not supported. To determine whether an API is available in v1.0, use the Version selector.

Query a specified set of event, activity, or entity data supported by Microsoft Defender XDR to proactively look for specific threats in your environment.

This method is for advanced hunting in Microsoft Defender XDR. This method includes a query in Kusto Query Language (KQL). It specifies a data table in the advanced hunting schema and a piped sequence of operators to filter or search that data and format the query output in specific ways.

Find out more about hunting for threats across devices, emails, apps, and identities. Learn about KQL.

For information on using advanced hunting in the Microsoft Defender portal, see Proactively hunt for threats with advanced hunting in Microsoft Defender XDR.

This API is available in the following national cloud deployments.

Global service	US Government L4	US Government L5 (DOD)	China operated by 21Vianet
✅	✅	✅	❌

Permissions

Choose the permission or permissions marked as least privileged for this API. Use a higher privileged permission or permissions only if your app requires it. For details about delegated and application permissions, see Permission types. To learn more about these permissions, see the permissions reference.

Permission type	Least privileged permissions	Higher privileged permissions
Delegated (work or school account)	ThreatHunting.Read.All	Not available.
Delegated (personal Microsoft account)	Not supported.	Not supported.
Application	ThreatHunting.Read.All	Not available.

Important

The signed-in user also needs one of the following roles:

A Microsoft Defender XDR Unified role-based access control (RBAC) role that grants advanced hunting access.
A Microsoft Entra ID role that provides only the least privilege necessary: Security Reader, Global Reader, Security Operator, or Security Administrator.

HTTP request

POST /security/runHuntingQuery

Request headers

Name	Description
Authorization	Bearer {token}. Required. Learn more about authentication and authorization.
Content-Type	application/json. Required.

Note

If you're using non-ANSI characters in your query, for example, to query email subjects with malformed or lookalike characters, use application/json; charset=utf-8 for the Content-Type header.

Request body

In the request body, provide a JSON object for the query parameter, and optionally include a timespan parameter and a workspaceId parameter.

Parameter	Type	Description	Example
query	String	Required. The hunting query in Kusto Query Language (KQL). For more information, see KQL quick reference.
timespan	String	Optional. The interval of time over which to query data, in ISO 8601 format. The default value is 30 days. If a time filter is specified in both the query and the timespan parameter, the shorter time span is applied.
workspaceId	Guid	Optional. The GUID of a specific Log Analytics workspace to target. If omitted, the service uses the caller's primary workspace. If the workspace isn't found or not accessible, the service falls back to the caller's primary workspace.	`00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001`

The following examples show the possible formats for the timespan parameter:

Date/Date: "2024-02-01T08:00:00Z/2024-02-15T08:00:00Z" - Start and end dates.
Duration/endDate: "P30D/2024-02-15T08:00:00Z" - A period before the end date.
Start/duration: "2024-02-01T08:00:00Z/P30D" - Start date and duration.
ISO8601 duration: "P30D" - Duration from now backwards.
Single date/time: "2024-02-01T08:00:00Z" - Start time with end time defaulted to the current time.

Response

If successful, this action returns a 200 OK response code and a huntingQueryResults in the response body.

Examples

Example 1: Query with default timespan

Request

The following example specifies a KQL query and:

Looks into the DeviceProcessEvents table in the advanced hunting schema.
Filters on the condition that the powershell.exe process initiates the event.
Specifies the output of three columns from the same table for each row: Timestamp, FileName, InitiatingProcessFileName.
Sorts the output by the Timestamp value.
Limits the output to two records (two rows).

POST https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/security/runHuntingQuery

{
    "query": "DeviceProcessEvents | where InitiatingProcessFileName =~ \"powershell.exe\" | project Timestamp, FileName, InitiatingProcessFileName | order by Timestamp desc | limit 2"
}


// Code snippets are only available for the latest version. Current version is 5.x

// Dependencies
using Microsoft.Graph.Beta.Security.MicrosoftGraphSecurityRunHuntingQuery;

var requestBody = new RunHuntingQueryPostRequestBody
{
	Query = "DeviceProcessEvents | where InitiatingProcessFileName =~ \"powershell.exe\" | project Timestamp, FileName, InitiatingProcessFileName | order by Timestamp desc | limit 2",
};

// To initialize your graphClient, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/sdks/create-client?from=snippets&tabs=csharp
var result = await graphClient.Security.MicrosoftGraphSecurityRunHuntingQuery.PostAsync(requestBody);

Important

Microsoft Graph SDKs use the v1.0 version of the API by default, and do not support all the types, properties, and APIs available in the beta version. For details about accessing the beta API with the SDK, see Use the Microsoft Graph SDKs with the beta API.

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.



// Code snippets are only available for the latest major version. Current major version is $v0.*

// Dependencies
import (
	  "context"
	  msgraphsdk "github.com/microsoftgraph/msgraph-beta-sdk-go"
	  graphsecurity "github.com/microsoftgraph/msgraph-beta-sdk-go/security"
	  //other-imports
)

requestBody := graphsecurity.NewRunHuntingQueryPostRequestBody()
query := "DeviceProcessEvents | where InitiatingProcessFileName =~ \"powershell.exe\" | project Timestamp, FileName, InitiatingProcessFileName | order by Timestamp desc | limit 2"
requestBody.SetQuery(&query) 

// To initialize your graphClient, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/sdks/create-client?from=snippets&tabs=go
microsoftGraphSecurityRunHuntingQuery, err := graphClient.Security().MicrosoftGraphSecurityRunHuntingQuery().Post(context.Background(), requestBody, nil)

Important

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.


// Code snippets are only available for the latest version. Current version is 6.x

GraphServiceClient graphClient = new GraphServiceClient(requestAdapter);

com.microsoft.graph.beta.security.microsoftgraphsecurityrunhuntingquery.RunHuntingQueryPostRequestBody runHuntingQueryPostRequestBody = new com.microsoft.graph.beta.security.microsoftgraphsecurityrunhuntingquery.RunHuntingQueryPostRequestBody();
runHuntingQueryPostRequestBody.setQuery("DeviceProcessEvents | where InitiatingProcessFileName =~ \"powershell.exe\" | project Timestamp, FileName, InitiatingProcessFileName | order by Timestamp desc | limit 2");
var result = graphClient.security().microsoftGraphSecurityRunHuntingQuery().post(runHuntingQueryPostRequestBody);

Important

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.


const options = {
	authProvider,
};

const client = Client.init(options);

const huntingQueryResults = {
    query: 'DeviceProcessEvents | where InitiatingProcessFileName =~ \"powershell.exe\" | project Timestamp, FileName, InitiatingProcessFileName | order by Timestamp desc | limit 2'
};

await client.api('/security/runHuntingQuery')
	.version('beta')
	.post(huntingQueryResults);

Important

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.


<?php
use Microsoft\Graph\Beta\GraphServiceClient;
use Microsoft\Graph\Beta\Generated\Security\MicrosoftGraphSecurityRunHuntingQuery\RunHuntingQueryPostRequestBody;


$graphServiceClient = new GraphServiceClient($tokenRequestContext, $scopes);

$requestBody = new RunHuntingQueryPostRequestBody();
$requestBody->setQuery('DeviceProcessEvents | where InitiatingProcessFileName =~ \"powershell.exe\" | project Timestamp, FileName, InitiatingProcessFileName | order by Timestamp desc | limit 2');

$result = $graphServiceClient->security()->microsoftGraphSecurityRunHuntingQuery()->post($requestBody)->wait();

Important

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.


Import-Module Microsoft.Graph.Beta.Security

$params = @{
	query = "DeviceProcessEvents | where InitiatingProcessFileName =~ "powershell.exe" | project Timestamp, FileName, InitiatingProcessFileName | order by Timestamp desc | limit 2"
}

Start-MgBetaSecurityHuntingQuery -BodyParameter $params

Important

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.


# Code snippets are only available for the latest version. Current version is 1.x
from msgraph_beta import GraphServiceClient
from msgraph_beta.generated.security.microsoft_graph_security_run_hunting_query.run_hunting_query_post_request_body import RunHuntingQueryPostRequestBody
# To initialize your graph_client, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/sdks/create-client?from=snippets&tabs=python
request_body = RunHuntingQueryPostRequestBody(
	query = "DeviceProcessEvents | where InitiatingProcessFileName =~ \"powershell.exe\" | project Timestamp, FileName, InitiatingProcessFileName | order by Timestamp desc | limit 2",
)

result = await graph_client.security.microsoft_graph_security_run_hunting_query.post(request_body)

Important

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

Response

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-type: application/json

{
    "@odata.context": "https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/$metadata#microsoft.graph.security.huntingQueryResults",
    "schema": [
        {
            "name": "Timestamp",
            "type": "DateTime"
        },
        {
            "name": "FileName",
            "type": "String"
        },
        {
            "name": "InitiatingProcessFileName",
            "type": "String"
        }
    ],
    "results": [
        {
            "Timestamp": "2024-03-26T09:39:50.7688641Z",
            "FileName": "cmd.exe",
            "InitiatingProcessFileName": "powershell.exe"
        },
        {
            "Timestamp": "2024-03-26T09:39:49.4353788Z",
            "FileName": "cmd.exe",
            "InitiatingProcessFileName": "powershell.exe"
        }
    ]
}

Example 2: Query with optional the timespan parameter specified

Request

This example specifies a KQL query and looks into the deviceProcessEvents table in the advanced hunting schema 60 days back.

POST https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/security/runHuntingQuery

{
    "query": "DeviceProcessEvents",
    "timespan": "P90D"
}


// Code snippets are only available for the latest version. Current version is 5.x

// Dependencies
using Microsoft.Graph.Beta.Security.MicrosoftGraphSecurityRunHuntingQuery;

var requestBody = new RunHuntingQueryPostRequestBody
{
	Query = "DeviceProcessEvents",
	Timespan = "P90D",
};

// To initialize your graphClient, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/sdks/create-client?from=snippets&tabs=csharp
var result = await graphClient.Security.MicrosoftGraphSecurityRunHuntingQuery.PostAsync(requestBody);

Important

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.



// Code snippets are only available for the latest major version. Current major version is $v0.*

// Dependencies
import (
	  "context"
	  msgraphsdk "github.com/microsoftgraph/msgraph-beta-sdk-go"
	  graphsecurity "github.com/microsoftgraph/msgraph-beta-sdk-go/security"
	  //other-imports
)

requestBody := graphsecurity.NewRunHuntingQueryPostRequestBody()
query := "DeviceProcessEvents"
requestBody.SetQuery(&query) 
timespan := "P90D"
requestBody.SetTimespan(&timespan) 

// To initialize your graphClient, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/sdks/create-client?from=snippets&tabs=go
microsoftGraphSecurityRunHuntingQuery, err := graphClient.Security().MicrosoftGraphSecurityRunHuntingQuery().Post(context.Background(), requestBody, nil)

Important

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.


// Code snippets are only available for the latest version. Current version is 6.x

GraphServiceClient graphClient = new GraphServiceClient(requestAdapter);

com.microsoft.graph.beta.security.microsoftgraphsecurityrunhuntingquery.RunHuntingQueryPostRequestBody runHuntingQueryPostRequestBody = new com.microsoft.graph.beta.security.microsoftgraphsecurityrunhuntingquery.RunHuntingQueryPostRequestBody();
runHuntingQueryPostRequestBody.setQuery("DeviceProcessEvents");
runHuntingQueryPostRequestBody.setTimespan("P90D");
var result = graphClient.security().microsoftGraphSecurityRunHuntingQuery().post(runHuntingQueryPostRequestBody);

Important

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.


const options = {
	authProvider,
};

const client = Client.init(options);

const huntingQueryResults = {
    query: 'DeviceProcessEvents',
    timespan: 'P90D'
};

await client.api('/security/runHuntingQuery')
	.version('beta')
	.post(huntingQueryResults);

Important

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.


<?php
use Microsoft\Graph\Beta\GraphServiceClient;
use Microsoft\Graph\Beta\Generated\Security\MicrosoftGraphSecurityRunHuntingQuery\RunHuntingQueryPostRequestBody;


$graphServiceClient = new GraphServiceClient($tokenRequestContext, $scopes);

$requestBody = new RunHuntingQueryPostRequestBody();
$requestBody->setQuery('DeviceProcessEvents');
$requestBody->setTimespan('P90D');

$result = $graphServiceClient->security()->microsoftGraphSecurityRunHuntingQuery()->post($requestBody)->wait();

Important

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.


Import-Module Microsoft.Graph.Beta.Security

$params = @{
	query = "DeviceProcessEvents"
	timespan = "P90D"
}

Start-MgBetaSecurityHuntingQuery -BodyParameter $params

Important

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.


# Code snippets are only available for the latest version. Current version is 1.x
from msgraph_beta import GraphServiceClient
from msgraph_beta.generated.security.microsoft_graph_security_run_hunting_query.run_hunting_query_post_request_body import RunHuntingQueryPostRequestBody
# To initialize your graph_client, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/sdks/create-client?from=snippets&tabs=python
request_body = RunHuntingQueryPostRequestBody(
	query = "DeviceProcessEvents",
	timespan = "P90D",
)

result = await graph_client.security.microsoft_graph_security_run_hunting_query.post(request_body)

Important

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

Response

Note: The response object shown here might be shortened for readability.

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-type: application/json

{
    "schema": [
        {
            "Name": "Timestamp",
            "Type": "DateTime"
        },
        {
            "Name": "FileName",
            "Type": "String"
        },
        {
            "Name": "InitiatingProcessFileName",
            "Type": "String"
        }
    ],
    "results": [
        {
            "Timestamp": "2020-08-30T06:38:35.7664356Z",
            "FileName": "conhost.exe",
            "InitiatingProcessFileName": "powershell.exe"
        },
        {
            "Timestamp": "2020-08-30T06:38:30.5163363Z",
            "FileName": "conhost.exe",
            "InitiatingProcessFileName": "powershell.exe"
        }
    ]
}

Example 3: Query against a specific workspace

Request

The following example specifies a KQL query and targets a specific Log Analytics workspace by passing the optional workspaceId parameter.

POST https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/security/runHuntingQuery
Content-Type: application/json

{
    "query": "DeviceProcessEvents | where InitiatingProcessFileName =~ \"powershell.exe\" | project Timestamp, FileName, InitiatingProcessFileName | order by Timestamp desc | limit 2",
    "timespan": "P1D",
    "workspaceId": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001"
}


// Code snippets are only available for the latest version. Current version is 5.x

// Dependencies
using Microsoft.Graph.Beta.Security.MicrosoftGraphSecurityRunHuntingQuery;

var requestBody = new RunHuntingQueryPostRequestBody
{
	Query = "DeviceProcessEvents | where InitiatingProcessFileName =~ \"powershell.exe\" | project Timestamp, FileName, InitiatingProcessFileName | order by Timestamp desc | limit 2",
	Timespan = "P1D",
	AdditionalData = new Dictionary<string, object>
	{
		{
			"workspaceId" , "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001"
		},
	},
};

// To initialize your graphClient, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/sdks/create-client?from=snippets&tabs=csharp
var result = await graphClient.Security.MicrosoftGraphSecurityRunHuntingQuery.PostAsync(requestBody);

Important

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.



// Code snippets are only available for the latest major version. Current major version is $v0.*

// Dependencies
import (
	  "context"
	  msgraphsdk "github.com/microsoftgraph/msgraph-beta-sdk-go"
	  graphsecurity "github.com/microsoftgraph/msgraph-beta-sdk-go/security"
	  //other-imports
)

requestBody := graphsecurity.NewRunHuntingQueryPostRequestBody()
query := "DeviceProcessEvents | where InitiatingProcessFileName =~ \"powershell.exe\" | project Timestamp, FileName, InitiatingProcessFileName | order by Timestamp desc | limit 2"
requestBody.SetQuery(&query) 
timespan := "P1D"
requestBody.SetTimespan(&timespan) 
additionalData := map[string]interface{}{
	"workspaceId" : "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001", 
}
requestBody.SetAdditionalData(additionalData)

// To initialize your graphClient, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/sdks/create-client?from=snippets&tabs=go
microsoftGraphSecurityRunHuntingQuery, err := graphClient.Security().MicrosoftGraphSecurityRunHuntingQuery().Post(context.Background(), requestBody, nil)

Important

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.


// Code snippets are only available for the latest version. Current version is 6.x

GraphServiceClient graphClient = new GraphServiceClient(requestAdapter);

com.microsoft.graph.beta.security.microsoftgraphsecurityrunhuntingquery.RunHuntingQueryPostRequestBody runHuntingQueryPostRequestBody = new com.microsoft.graph.beta.security.microsoftgraphsecurityrunhuntingquery.RunHuntingQueryPostRequestBody();
runHuntingQueryPostRequestBody.setQuery("DeviceProcessEvents | where InitiatingProcessFileName =~ \"powershell.exe\" | project Timestamp, FileName, InitiatingProcessFileName | order by Timestamp desc | limit 2");
runHuntingQueryPostRequestBody.setTimespan("P1D");
HashMap<String, Object> additionalData = new HashMap<String, Object>();
additionalData.put("workspaceId", "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001");
runHuntingQueryPostRequestBody.setAdditionalData(additionalData);
var result = graphClient.security().microsoftGraphSecurityRunHuntingQuery().post(runHuntingQueryPostRequestBody);

Important

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.


const options = {
	authProvider,
};

const client = Client.init(options);

const huntingQueryResults = {
    query: 'DeviceProcessEvents | where InitiatingProcessFileName =~ \"powershell.exe\" | project Timestamp, FileName, InitiatingProcessFileName | order by Timestamp desc | limit 2',
    timespan: 'P1D',
    workspaceId: '00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001'
};

await client.api('/security/runHuntingQuery')
	.version('beta')
	.post(huntingQueryResults);

Important

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.


<?php
use Microsoft\Graph\Beta\GraphServiceClient;
use Microsoft\Graph\Beta\Generated\Security\MicrosoftGraphSecurityRunHuntingQuery\RunHuntingQueryPostRequestBody;


$graphServiceClient = new GraphServiceClient($tokenRequestContext, $scopes);

$requestBody = new RunHuntingQueryPostRequestBody();
$requestBody->setQuery('DeviceProcessEvents | where InitiatingProcessFileName =~ \"powershell.exe\" | project Timestamp, FileName, InitiatingProcessFileName | order by Timestamp desc | limit 2');
$requestBody->setTimespan('P1D');
$additionalData = [
	'workspaceId' => '00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001',
];
$requestBody->setAdditionalData($additionalData);

$result = $graphServiceClient->security()->microsoftGraphSecurityRunHuntingQuery()->post($requestBody)->wait();

Important

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.


Import-Module Microsoft.Graph.Beta.Security

$params = @{
	query = "DeviceProcessEvents | where InitiatingProcessFileName =~ "powershell.exe" | project Timestamp, FileName, InitiatingProcessFileName | order by Timestamp desc | limit 2"
	timespan = "P1D"
	workspaceId = "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001"
}

Start-MgBetaSecurityHuntingQuery -BodyParameter $params

Important

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.


# Code snippets are only available for the latest version. Current version is 1.x
from msgraph_beta import GraphServiceClient
from msgraph_beta.generated.security.microsoft_graph_security_run_hunting_query.run_hunting_query_post_request_body import RunHuntingQueryPostRequestBody
# To initialize your graph_client, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/sdks/create-client?from=snippets&tabs=python
request_body = RunHuntingQueryPostRequestBody(
	query = "DeviceProcessEvents | where InitiatingProcessFileName =~ \"powershell.exe\" | project Timestamp, FileName, InitiatingProcessFileName | order by Timestamp desc | limit 2",
	timespan = "P1D",
	additional_data = {
			"workspace_id" : "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001",
	}
)

result = await graph_client.security.microsoft_graph_security_run_hunting_query.post(request_body)

Important

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

Response

Note: The response object shown here might be shortened for readability.

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-type: application/json

{
    "schema": [
        {
            "name": "Timestamp",
            "type": "DateTime"
        },
        {
            "name": "FileName",
            "type": "String"
        },
        {
            "name": "InitiatingProcessFileName",
            "type": "String"
        }
    ],
    "results": [
        {
            "Timestamp": "2026-03-10T06:38:35.766Z",
            "FileName": "conhost.exe",
            "InitiatingProcessFileName": "powershell.exe"
        },
        {
            "Timestamp": "2026-03-10T06:38:30.516Z",
            "FileName": "conhost.exe",
            "InitiatingProcessFileName": "powershell.exe"
        }
    ]
}

Feedback

Was this page helpful?

Last updated on 2026-07-01

security: runHuntingQuery

Permissions

HTTP request

Request headers

Request body

Response

Examples

Example 1: Query with default timespan

Request

Response

Example 2: Query with optional the timespan parameter specified

Request

Response

Example 3: Query against a specific workspace

Request

Response

Feedback

Additional resources