Azure Functions Powershell Permissions Error

Question

Hello, I am recieving the following Error when trying to use remove-distributiongroupmember cmdlet in Azure Functions using Managed Identity. I am able to use the same MI to do other Exchange Online module cmdlets such as "set-mailbox" and I recieve no errors. But this issue has persisted for several days and I am not sure what the issue could be. I do have the Exchange Administrator access added to this MI and everything has been set up as MS showed in their douments. If anyone could help, that would be wonderful. Thank you.

2024-07-16T16:24:08.584 [Error] ERROR: |Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Directory.InsufficientPermissionsException|Source server:SN6PR11MB3359.namprd11.prod.outlook.com doesn't have write permission to target DC:. Usually it indicates that target forest isn't an account partition of source forest. The user has insufficient access rights.Exception             :Type    : System.ExceptionMessage : |Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Directory.InsufficientPermissionsException|Source server:SN6PR11MB3359.namprd11.prod.outlook.com doesn't have write permission to target DC:. Usually it indicates that target forest isn't an account partition of source forest. The user has insufficient access rights.Data    : System.Collections.ListDictionaryInternalHResult : -2146233088CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Remove-DistributionGroupMember], ExceptionFullyQualifiedErrorId : [],Write-ErrorMessageInvocationInfo        :MyCommand        : Write-ErrorMessageScriptLineNumber : 1204OffsetInLine     : 13HistoryId        : 1ScriptName       : C:\local\Temp\tmpEXO_jxhi1j0x.wgc\tmpEXO_jxhi1j0x.wgc.psm1Line             : Write-ErrorMessage $ErrorObjectStatement        : Write-ErrorMessage $ErrorObjectPositionMessage  : At C:\local\Temp\tmpEXO_jxhi1j0x.wgc\tmpEXO_jxhi1j0x.wgc.psm1:1204 char:13+             Write-ErrorMessage $ErrorObject+             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~PSScriptRoot     : C:\local\Temp\tmpEXO_jxhi1j0x.wgcPSCommandPath    : C:\local\Temp\tmpEXO_jxhi1j0x.wgc\tmpEXO_jxhi1j0x.wgc.psm1InvocationName   : Write-ErrorMessageCommandOrigin    : InternalScriptStackTrace      : at Write-ErrorMessage

Answer 1

Hello @Christopher Travis

The error message indicates that the source server doesn't have write permission to the target DC, which usually indicates that the target forest isn't an account partition of the source forest, and the user has insufficient access rights.

Based on the error message, it seems like the MI you are using doesn't have the necessary permissions to perform the remove-distributiongroupmember cmdlet.

You mentioned that you have Exchange Administrator access added to this MI, but it's possible that the MI doesn't have the necessary permissions to perform this specific cmdlet.

I would recommend checking the permissions of the MI and ensuring that it has the necessary permissions to perform the remove-distributiongroupmember cmdlet.

You may also want to check the Exchange Online module documentation to see if there are any specific permissions required for this cmdlet.

Answer 2

I have the same problem. Automated jobs running with a User Assigned Managed Identity.
The issue occurs randomly. Sometimes the job runs successful without issues, and sometimes the job fails with the error message:

Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Directory.InsufficientPermissionsException|Source server:AS8PR04MB7589.eurprd04.prod.outlook.com doesn't have write permission to target DC:<null>:NAMPR15A900.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM. Usually it indicates that target forest isn't an account partition of source forest. 

Note the <null> value in the exception. Something is happening on the server-side causing the issues.