User Session Impersonation(Okta)

Status: available
Severity: medium
Time window: 6h
Source: github.com/Azure/Azure-Sentinel

A user has started a session impersonation, gaining access with the impersonated users permissions. This typically signifies Okta admin access and should only happen if anticipated and requested.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Privilege Escalation	`T1134.003` Access Token Manipulation: Make and Impersonate Token

Event coverage

Provider	Event
Okta-user	user.session.impersonation.initiate

Rules detecting the same action

Other rules on this platform that filter on the same API call or operation.

Okta Support Access (Panther)
Okta Support Access Granted (Panther)
Okta User Session Impersonation (Elastic)

Rule body kusto

id: 35846296-4052-4de2-8098-beb6bb5f2203
name: User Session Impersonation(Okta)
description: |
    'A user has started a session impersonation, gaining access with the impersonated users permissions. This typically signifies Okta admin access and should only happen if anticipated and requested.'
severity: Medium
status: Available
requiredDataConnectors:
  - connectorId: OktaSSO
    dataTypes:
      - Okta_CL
  - connectorId: OktaSSOv2
    dataTypes:
      - OktaSSO
queryFrequency: 6h
queryPeriod: 6h
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
tactics:
  - PrivilegeEscalation
relevantTechniques:
  - T1134
  - T1134.003
query: |
  OktaSSO
  | where eventType_s == "user.session.impersonation.initiate" and outcome_result_s == "SUCCESS"
  // Expand the JSON array in 'target_s' field to extract detailed information about the event
  | mv-expand parsed_json = todynamic(target_s) // Unpack and understand the details from the 'target_s' JSON array
  // Enhance visibility by extending columns with extracted details for better analysis
  | extend TargetUser_id = tostring(parsed_json.id), 
           TargetUser_type = tostring(parsed_json.type), 
           TargetUser_alternateId = tostring(parsed_json.alternateId), 
           TargetUser_displayName = tostring(parsed_json.displayName), 
           Target_detailEntry = tostring(parsed_json.detailEntry) 
  // Project event details to gain insights into the security context, including actor and target user information
  | project TimeGenerated, actor_alternateId_s, actor_displayName_s, TargetUser_alternateId, 
                 TargetUser_displayName, TargetUser_type, TargetUser_id, 
                 eventType_s, outcome_result_s
entityMappings:
  - entityType: Account
    fieldMappings:
      - identifier: Name
        columnName: actor_alternateId_s
      - identifier: DisplayName
        columnName: actor_displayName_s
version: 1.1.0
kind: Scheduled

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `source`

OktaSSO

Stage 2: `where`

| where eventType_s == "user.session.impersonation.initiate" and outcome_result_s == "SUCCESS"

Stage 3: `mv-expand`

| mv-expand parsed_json = todynamic(target_s)

Stage 4: `extend`

| extend TargetUser_id = tostring(parsed_json.id), 
         TargetUser_type = tostring(parsed_json.type), 
         TargetUser_alternateId = tostring(parsed_json.alternateId), 
         TargetUser_displayName = tostring(parsed_json.displayName), 
         Target_detailEntry = tostring(parsed_json.detailEntry)

Stage 5: `project`

| project TimeGenerated, actor_alternateId_s, actor_displayName_s, TargetUser_alternateId, 
               TargetUser_displayName, TargetUser_type, TargetUser_id, 
               eventType_s, outcome_result_s

Indicators

Each row is a field, operator, and value that the rule matches. The corpus column counts how many other rules in the catalog look for the same combination: high numbers point to widely-used, community-vetted indicators. Blank or 1 shows that the indicator is specific to this rule.

Field	Kind	Values
`eventType_s`	eq	`user.session.impersonation.initiate` transforms: `cased`
`outcome_result_s`	eq	`SUCCESS` transforms: `cased`

Output fields

Fields the rule emits when it matches. Chronicle authors list these in the outcome block; they appear on the detection and $risk_score drives alerting. Sentinel / Defender XDR rules build them up through project / summarize / extend stages. Sentinel maps these into alert fields via entityMappings and customDetails; Defender XDR custom detections surface them as alert fields directly.

Field	Source
`TargetUser_alternateId`	`project`
`TargetUser_displayName`	`project`
`TargetUser_id`	`project`
`TargetUser_type`	`project`
`TimeGenerated`	`project`
`actor_alternateId_s`	`project`
`actor_displayName_s`	`project`
`eventType_s`	`project`
`outcome_result_s`	`project`

`j` / `k`	Scroll down / up
`d` / `u`	Half-page down / up
`gg` / `G`	Top / bottom
`h` / `l`	History back / forward
`f`	Follow link (`Shift` = new tab)
`/`	Focus search
`?`	Toggle this help
`↑` / `↓`	Navigate search results
`Enter`	Open highlighted result
`Esc`	Close results / dialog

`type:`	`events` / `rules` / `providers`
`vendor:`	`sigma` / `elastic` / `splunk` / `kusto` / `chronicle` (vendor name alone also works: `sigma:`, `kql:`, `secops:`…)
`tactic:`	TA-id, slug, or name: `credential_access`, `TA0006`
`technique:`	technique or sub-technique ID: `T1003`, `T1003.001` (alias `tech:`)
`severity:`	`critical` / `high` / `medium` / `low` / `informational` (alias `sev:`)
`risk_score`	Numeric comparison on the Elastic risk score (0 to 100): `risk_score>50`, `risk_score<=20`, `risk_score=99` (alias `risk`; Elastic rules only)
`stages:`	Rules with exactly N pipeline stages
`correlation:`	`single_event` / `sequence` / `alternatives` / `alternatives_cross_log` / `all_required` / `correlated`
`with:`	Co-occurrence event-id; stacks (`with:4624 with:4769`) to require all, while a comma list in one occurrence (`with:4624,4769`) is an either-or group. Implies multi-event
`like:`	Structural neighbors of a rule slug (equivalents + subsumption stricter / broader): `like:comsvcs_lsass_memory_dump-splunk-sysmon`
`groupby:`	Entity-grouping substring match against `group_by_keys`: `groupby:user`, `groupby:host`
`uses:`	Rules whose predicate tree touches the field (any kind, any value): `uses:CommandLine`
`excludes:`	Rules with top-level `not()` clauses on the field (FP whitelists): `excludes:ParentImage`
`field:` / `value:`	Predicate search; narrows rule cards to those with a matching leaf and drives the indicator tier. Unquoted = substring, wildcards allowed (`value:mimikatz`)
`indicator:`	Shorthand for `field:F value:V`: `indicator:Image=*\powershell.exe`
`kind:`	Filter by predicate kind. Narrows rule cards to those carrying a matching predicate leaf (`vendor:elastic kind:cidr_match`) and drives the indicator tier: `contains` / `starts_with` / `ends_with` / `regex` / `cidr` / `eq` / `in` … (operator aliases `op:`/`match:`)
`has:` / `no:`	`sample`, `field`, `notes`, `refs`, `trace`, `thirdparty`, `rule`, `pattern`, `timewindow`, `threshold`, `newterms`, `sigma`/`elastic`/`splunk`/`kusto`/`chronicle`
`-op:val`	Exclude matches; works on most operators but not `type:`/`like:`/`has:`/`no:` (use `no:<flag>` to exclude a rule flag): `tactic:execution -vendor:splunk`. Standalone `-kind:`/`-field:`/`-value:` drop every rule carrying a matching predicate leaf (`type:rules -kind:is_null`)
`field:"…"` / `value:"…"`	Quoted value = anchored exact match (also allows spaces): `value:"net user"`
`a,b`	Comma = OR inside one operator (`vendor:sigma,elastic`, `severity:high,critical`); repeating a facet merges the same way. `field:`/`value:` never split (literal commas)
`vendors:` / `stage:`	Singular and plural spellings fold to the canonical operator and value: `tactics:` = `tactic:`, `type:event` = `type:events`, `correlation:sequences` = `correlation:sequence`, `has:thresholds` = `has:threshold`
`"quoted phrase"`	Exact-match a multi-word phrase (free text)

User Session Impersonation(Okta)

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rules detecting the same action

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `mv-expand`

Stage 4: `extend`

Stage 5: `project`

Indicators

Output fields

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

User Session Impersonation(Okta)

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rules detecting the same action

Rule body kusto

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: source

Stage 2: where

Stage 3: mv-expand

Stage 4: extend

Stage 5: project

Indicators

Output fields

Stage 1: `source`

Stage 2: `where`

Stage 3: `mv-expand`

Stage 4: `extend`

Stage 5: `project`