Detection: O365 High Number Of Failed Authentications for User

Updated Date: 2024-09-30 ID: 31641378-2fa9-42b1-948e-25e281cb98f7 Author: Mauricio Velazco, Splunk Type: TTP Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic identifies an O365 account experiencing more than 20 failed authentication attempts within 5 minutes. It uses O365 Unified Audit Logs, specifically "UserLoginFailed" events, to monitor and flag accounts exceeding this threshold. This activity is significant as it may indicate a brute force attack or password guessing attempt. If confirmed malicious, an attacker could gain unauthorized access to the O365 environment, potentially compromising sensitive emails, documents, and other data. Prompt investigation and action are crucial to prevent unauthorized access and data breaches.

1`o365_management_activity` Operation=UserLoginFailed  record_type=AzureActiveDirectoryStsLogon Workload=AzureActiveDirectory 
2| bucket span=5m _time 
3| stats  dc(_raw) AS failed_attempts  values(src_ip) as src_ip by user, _time 
4| where failed_attempts > 10 
5| `o365_high_number_of_failed_authentications_for_user_filter`

Data Source

Name Platform Sourcetype Source
O365 UserLoginFailed N/A 'o365:management:activity' 'o365'

Macros Used

Name Value
o365_management_activity sourcetype=o365:management:activity
o365_high_number_of_failed_authentications_for_user_filter search *
o365_high_number_of_failed_authentications_for_user_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
T1110 Brute Force Credential Access
T1110.001 Password Guessing Credential Access
KillChainPhase.EXPLOITAITON
NistCategory.DE_CM
Cis18Value.CIS_10
APT28
APT38
APT39
APT41
Agrius
DarkVishnya
Dragonfly
Ember Bear
FIN5
Fox Kitten
HEXANE
OilRig
Turla
APT28
APT29

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
This configuration file applies to all detections of type TTP. These detections will use Risk Based Alerting and generate Notable Events.

Implementation

You must install the Splunk Microsoft Office 365 Add-on and ingest Office 365 management activity events.

Known False Positives

Although unusual, users who have lost their passwords may trigger this detection. Filter as needed.

Associated Analytic Story

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message Risk Score Impact Confidence
User $user$ failed to authenticate more than 10 times in the span of 5 minutes. 35 50 70
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 o365:management:activity o365:management:activity
Integration ✅ Passing Dataset o365:management:activity o365:management:activity

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