Detection: AWS Unusual Number of Failed Authentications From Ip

Description

The following analytic identifies a single source IP failing to authenticate into the AWS Console with multiple valid users. It uses CloudTrail logs and calculates the standard deviation for source IP, leveraging the 3-sigma rule to detect unusual numbers of failed authentication attempts. This behavior is significant as it may indicate a Password Spraying attack, where an adversary attempts to gain initial access or elevate privileges. If confirmed malicious, this activity could lead to unauthorized access, data breaches, or further exploitation within the AWS environment.

1`cloudtrail` eventName=ConsoleLogin action=failure 
2| bucket span=10m _time 
3| stats  dc(_raw) AS distinct_attempts values(user_name) as tried_accounts by _time, src_ip 
4| eventstats  avg(distinct_attempts) as avg_attempts , stdev(distinct_attempts) as ip_std by _time 
5| eval  upperBound=(avg_attempts+ip_std*3) 
6| eval  isOutlier=if(distinct_attempts > 10 and distinct_attempts >= upperBound, 1, 0) 
7| where isOutlier = 1 
8|`aws_unusual_number_of_failed_authentications_from_ip_filter`

Data Source

Name Platform Sourcetype Source
AWS CloudTrail ConsoleLogin AWS icon AWS 'aws:cloudtrail' 'aws_cloudtrail'

Macros Used

Name Value
cloudtrail sourcetype=aws:cloudtrail
aws_unusual_number_of_failed_authentications_from_ip_filter search *
aws_unusual_number_of_failed_authentications_from_ip_filter is an empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.

Annotations

- MITRE ATT&CK
+ Kill Chain Phases
+ NIST
+ CIS
- Threat Actors
ID Technique Tactic
T1586 Compromise Accounts Resource Development
T1586.003 Cloud Accounts Resource Development
T1110 Brute Force Credential Access
T1110.003 Password Spraying Credential Access
T1110.004 Credential Stuffing Credential Access
KillChainPhase.EXPLOITAITON
KillChainPhase.WEAPONIZATION
NistCategory.DE_AE
Cis18Value.CIS_10
APT29
APT28
APT38
APT39
APT41
Agrius
DarkVishnya
Dragonfly
Ember Bear
FIN5
Fox Kitten
HEXANE
OilRig
Turla
APT28
APT29
APT33
Agrius
Chimera
Ember Bear
HEXANE
Lazarus Group
Leafminer
Silent Librarian
Chimera

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 Risk Event True
This configuration file applies to all detections of type anomaly. These detections will use Risk Based Alerting.

Implementation

You must install Splunk Add-on for AWS in order to ingest Cloudtrail. We recommend the users to try different combinations of the bucket span time and the calculation of the upperBound field to tune this search according to their environment

Known False Positives

No known false postives for this detection. Please review this alert

Associated Analytic Story

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message Risk Score Impact Confidence
Unusual number of failed console login attempts (Count: $distinct_attempts$) against users from IP Address - $src_ip$ 54 60 90
The Risk Score is calculated by the following formula: Risk Score = (Impact * Confidence/100). Initial Confidence and Impact is set by the analytic author.

References

Detection Testing

Test Type Status Dataset Source Sourcetype
Validation Passing N/A N/A N/A
Unit Passing Dataset aws_cloudtrail aws:cloudtrail
Integration ✅ Passing Dataset aws_cloudtrail aws:cloudtrail

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: 4