Detection: AWS Console Login Failed During MFA Challenge

Updated Date: 2024-09-30 ID: 55349868-5583-466f-98ab-d3beb321961e Author: Bhavin Patel, Splunk Type: TTP Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic identifies failed authentication attempts to the AWS Console during the Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) challenge. It leverages AWS CloudTrail logs, specifically the additionalEventData field, to detect when MFA was used but the login attempt still failed. This activity is significant as it may indicate an adversary attempting to access an account with compromised credentials but being thwarted by MFA. If confirmed malicious, this could suggest an ongoing attempt to breach the account, potentially leading to unauthorized access and further attacks if MFA is bypassed.

Search

1`cloudtrail` eventName= ConsoleLogin errorMessage="Failed authentication" additionalEventData.MFAUsed = "Yes" 
2| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime by src eventName eventSource aws_account_id errorCode errorMessage userAgent eventID awsRegion user_name userIdentity.arn 
3| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
4| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
5| `aws_console_login_failed_during_mfa_challenge_filter`

Data Source

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

Macros Used

Name	Value
cloudtrail	`sourcetype=aws:cloudtrail`
aws_console_login_failed_during_mfa_challenge_filter	`search *`

aws_console_login_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

- MITRE ATT&CK

+ Kill Chain Phases

+ NIST

+ CIS

- Threat Actors

ID	Technique	Tactic
T1586	Compromise Accounts	Resource Development
T1586.003	Cloud Accounts	Resource Development
T1621	Multi-Factor Authentication Request Generation	Credential Access

KillChainPhase.EXPLOITAITON

KillChainPhase.WEAPONIZATION

NistCategory.DE_CM

Cis18Value.CIS_10

APT29

LAPSUS$

Scattered Spider

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

The Splunk AWS Add-on is required to utilize this data. The search requires AWS CloudTrail logs.

Known False Positives

Legitimate users may miss to reply the MFA challenge within the time window or deny it by mistake.

Associated Analytic Story

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message	Risk Score	Impact	Confidence
User $user_name$ failed to pass MFA challenge while logging into console from $src$	64	80	80

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: 3