Exchange Admin Role Groups & High-risk Roles
The question it answers: Who holds Exchange admin role groups and high-risk roles such as Mailbox Import Export or Mailbox Search?
Exchange has its own admin roles, invisible to every Entra role report. Members of Organization Management can grant themselves anything; anyone holding Mailbox Import Export can export any mailbox to a PST, and Mailbox Search can search every mailbox. Direct assignments outside role groups are listed separately because reviews usually miss them.
At a glance
Section titled “At a glance”| Where in the app | Exchange Online › Mail Security & Hygiene › Exchange Admin Role Groups |
| Workload | Exchange Online |
| Kind | Findings list · dashboard tile |
| Data | Read from Microsoft 365 when someone first opens it, then kept for the report cache lifetime (Settings > Data & cache, 1 hour unless changed). It reads through PowerShell (Exchange Online or SharePoint Online), so the first load takes longer than a Graph report. |
| Licence | No extra licence needed. |
| Report id (API and MCP) | exchange.hygiene.exchange-role-groups |
Columns
Section titled “Columns”| Column | Key | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Severity | Severity | Status |
| Role group | Category | Text |
| Member | Subject | Link |
| Check | Setting | Text |
| Value | Value | Text |
| Finding | Finding | Text |
| Roles in the group | Detail | Text |
| Date | When | Date |
| Count | Number | Number |
A findings list hides columns that no row fills. Severity is Critical, Serious, Warning, OK or Info; rows rated Critical, Serious or Warning need attention (Working with findings).
What it needs
Section titled “What it needs”Licence: No extra licence needed.
Application permissions on the IntensiveReports app registration (all permissions):
| Permission | API | What it allows | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
Exchange.ManageAsApp | Office 365 Exchange Online | Manage Exchange As Application | + View-Only Organization Management |
Data sources it reads
Get-RoleGroupGet-RoleGroupMemberGet-ManagementRoleAssignment -Role 'Mailbox Import Export' / 'Mailbox Search' / 'Role Management'
Through the API and MCP
Section titled “Through the API and MCP”GET /ir-api/v1/reports/exchange.hygiene.exchange-role-groups?size=100An AI assistant reads it with the MCP tool get_report and the id exchange.hygiene.exchange-role-groups. The client needs the Read grant for Exchange Online. See Using the API.