Detection: Azure AD Successful Single-Factor Authentication

Updated Date: 2026-05-13 ID: a560e7f6-1711-4353-885b-40be53101fcd Author: Mauricio Velazco, Gowthamaraj Rajendran, Splunk Type: TTP Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic identifies a successful single-factor authentication event against Azure Active Directory. It leverages Azure SignInLogs data, specifically focusing on events where single-factor authentication succeeded. This activity is significant as it may indicate a misconfiguration, policy violation, or potential account takeover attempt. If confirmed malicious, an attacker could gain unauthorized access to the account, potentially leading to data breaches, privilege escalation, or further exploitation within the environment.

Search

 1`azure_monitor_aad` category=SignInLogs properties.authenticationRequirement=singleFactorAuthentication properties.authenticationDetails{}.succeeded=true
 2  
 3| rename properties.* as *
 4  
 5| rename userAgent as user_agent
 6  
 7| fillnull
 8  
 9| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime
10    BY dest user src
11       vendor_account vendor_product user_agent
12       signature
13  
14| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
15  
16| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
17  
18| `azure_ad_successful_single_factor_authentication_filter`

Data Source

Name	Platform	Sourcetype	Source
Azure Active Directory	Azure	`'azure:monitor:aad'`	`'Azure AD'`

Macros Used

Name	Value
security_content_ctime	`convert timeformat="%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S" ctime($field$)`
azure_ad_successful_single_factor_authentication_filter	`search *`

azure_ad_successful_single_factor_authentication_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
T1078.004	Cloud Accounts	Initial Access
T1586.003	Cloud Accounts	Persistence

weaponization

Delivery

Exploitation

Installation

DE.CM

CIS 10

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 Finding (Notable)	Yes
Rule Title	`%name%`
Rule Description	`%description%`
Notable Event Fields	user, dest
Creates Intermediate Finding (Risk Event)	No

TTP detections generate a Finding (Notable) and may generate Intermediate Findings (Risk Events) for associated entities.

Implementation

You must install the latest version of Splunk Add-on for Microsoft Cloud Services from Splunkbase (https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/3110/#/details). You must be ingesting Azure Active Directory events into your Splunk environment through an EventHub. This analytic was written to be used with the azure:monitor:aad sourcetype leveraging the Signin log category.

Known False Positives

Although not recommended, certain users may be required without multi-factor authentication. Filter as needed

Associated Analytic Story

Azure Active Directory Account Takeover

Finding

Title	Entity Field	Entity Type	Risk Score
Successful authentication for user $user$ without MFA	user	user	50

Threat Objects

Field	Type
src	ip_address

References

Detection Testing

Test Type	Status	Dataset	Source	Sourcetype
Validation	✅ Passing	N/A	N/A	N/A
Unit	✅ Passing	Dataset	`Azure AD`	`azure:monitor:aad`
Integration	✅ Passing	Dataset	`Azure AD`	`azure:monitor:aad`

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: 13