Windows Multiple Disabled Users Failed To Authenticate Wth Kerberos
Description
The following analytic identifies one source endpoint failing to authenticate with 30 unique disabled domain users using the Kerberos protocol within 5 minutes. This behavior could represent an adversary performing a Password Spraying attack against an Active Directory environment using Kerberos to obtain initial access or elevate privileges. Active Directory environments can be very different depending on the organization. Users should test this detection and customize the arbitrary threshold when needed. As attackers progress in a breach, mistakes will be made. In certain scenarios, adversaries may execute a password spraying attack against disabled users. Event 4768 is generated every time the Key Distribution Center issues a Kerberos Ticket Granting Ticket (TGT). Failure code 0x12
stands for clients credentials have been revoked
(account disabled, expired or locked out).
This logic can be used for real time security monitoring as well as threat hunting exercises. This detection will only trigger on domain controllers, not on member servers or workstations.
The analytics returned fields allow analysts to investigate the event further by providing fields like source ip and attempted user accounts.
- Type: TTP
-
Product: Splunk Enterprise, Splunk Enterprise Security, Splunk Cloud
- Last Updated: 2021-04-14
- Author: Mauricio Velazco, Splunk
- ID: 98f22d82-9d62-11eb-9fcf-acde48001122
Annotations
ATT&CK
Kill Chain Phase
- Exploitation
NIST
- DE.CM
CIS20
- CIS 10
CVE
Search
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`wineventlog_security` EventCode=4768 TargetUserName!=*$ Status=0x12
| bucket span=5m _time
| stats dc(TargetUserName) AS unique_accounts values(TargetUserName) as tried_accounts by _time, IpAddress
| where unique_accounts > 30
| `windows_multiple_disabled_users_failed_to_authenticate_wth_kerberos_filter`
Macros
The SPL above uses the following Macros:
windows_multiple_disabled_users_failed_to_authenticate_wth_kerberos_filter is a empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.
Required fields
List of fields required to use this analytic.
- _time
- EventCode
- Status
- TargetUserName
- IpAddress
How To Implement
To successfully implement this search, you need to be ingesting Domain Controller and Kerberos events. The Advanced Security Audit policy setting Audit Kerberos Authentication Service
within Account Logon
needs to be enabled.
Known False Positives
A host failing to authenticate with multiple disabled domain users is not a common behavior for legitimate systems. Possible false positive scenarios include but are not limited to vulnerability scanners, multi-user systems missconfigured systems.
Associated Analytic Story
RBA
Risk Score | Impact | Confidence | Message |
---|---|---|---|
49.0 | 70 | 70 | Potential Kerberos based password spraying attack from $IpAddress$ |
The Risk Score is calculated by the following formula: Risk Score = (Impact * Confidence/100). Initial Confidence and Impact is set by the analytic author.
Reference
Test Dataset
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 | version: 2