ID | Technique | Tactic |
---|---|---|
T1586 | Compromise Accounts | Resource Development |
T1586.003 | Cloud Accounts | Resource Development |
T1078 | Valid Accounts | Defense Evasion |
T1078.004 | Cloud Accounts | Initial Access |
T1621 | Multi-Factor Authentication Request Generation | Persistence |
Detection: Okta Authentication Failed During MFA Challenge
Description
The following analytic identifies failed authentication attempts during the Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) challenge in an Okta tenant. It uses the Authentication datamodel to detect specific failed events where the authentication signature is user.authentication.auth_via_mfa
. This activity is significant as it may indicate an adversary attempting to authenticate with compromised credentials on an account with MFA enabled. If confirmed malicious, this could suggest an ongoing attempt to bypass MFA protections, potentially leading to unauthorized access and further compromise of the affected account.
Search
1
2| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(Authentication.app) as app values(Authentication.reason) as reason values(Authentication.signature) as signature values(Authentication.method) as method from datamodel=Authentication where Authentication.signature=user.authentication.auth_via_mfa Authentication.action = failure by _time Authentication.src Authentication.user Authentication.dest Authentication.action
3| `drop_dm_object_name("Authentication")`
4| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
5| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
6| iplocation src
7| `okta_authentication_failed_during_mfa_challenge_filter`
Data Source
Name | Platform | Sourcetype | Source |
---|---|---|---|
Okta | N/A | 'OktaIM2:log' |
'Okta' |
Macros Used
Name | Value |
---|---|
security_content_ctime | convert timeformat="%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S" ctime($field$) |
okta_authentication_failed_during_mfa_challenge_filter | search * |
okta_authentication_failed_during_mfa_challenge_filter
is an empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.
Annotations
Default Configuration
This detection is configured by default in Splunk Enterprise Security to run with the following settings:
Setting | Value |
---|---|
Disabled | true |
Cron Schedule | 0 * * * * |
Earliest Time | -70m@m |
Latest Time | -10m@m |
Schedule Window | auto |
Creates Notable | Yes |
Rule Title | %name% |
Rule Description | %description% |
Notable Event Fields | user, dest |
Creates Risk Event | True |
Implementation
The analytic leverages Okta OktaIm2 logs to be ingested using the Splunk Add-on for Okta Identity Cloud (https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/6553).
Known False Positives
A user may have accidentally entered the wrong credentials during the MFA challenge. If the user is new to MFA, they may have trouble authenticating. Ensure that the user is aware of the MFA process and has the correct credentials.
Associated Analytic Story
Risk Based Analytics (RBA)
Risk Message | Risk Score | Impact | Confidence |
---|---|---|---|
A user [$user$] has failed to authenticate via MFA from IP Address - [$src$]" | 48 | 80 | 60 |
References
Detection Testing
Test Type | Status | Dataset | Source | Sourcetype |
---|---|---|---|---|
Validation | ✅ Passing | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Unit | ✅ Passing | Dataset | okta_log |
OktaIM2:log |
Integration | ✅ Passing | Dataset | okta_log |
OktaIM2:log |
Replay any dataset to Splunk Enterprise by using our replay.py
tool or the UI.
Alternatively you can replay a dataset into a Splunk Attack Range
Source: GitHub | Version: 3