Detection rules › Kusto
AD account with Don't Expire Password
Identifies whenever a user account has the setting "Password Never Expires" in the user account properties selected. This is indicated in Security event 4738 in the EventData item labeled UserAccountControl with an included value of %%2089. %%2089 resolves to "Don't Expire Password - Enabled".
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Persistence | T1098 Account Manipulation |
Event coverage
| Provider | Event | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Security-Auditing | Event ID 4738 | A user account was changed. |
Rule body kusto
id: 6c360107-f3ee-4b91-9f43-f4cfd90441cf
name: AD account with Don't Expire Password
description: |
'Identifies whenever a user account has the setting "Password Never Expires" in the user account properties selected.
This is indicated in Security event 4738 in the EventData item labeled UserAccountControl with an included value of %%2089.
%%2089 resolves to "Don't Expire Password - Enabled".'
severity: Low
requiredDataConnectors:
- connectorId: SecurityEvents
dataTypes:
- SecurityEvent
- connectorId: WindowsSecurityEvents
dataTypes:
- SecurityEvent
- connectorId: WindowsForwardedEvents
dataTypes:
- WindowsEvent
queryFrequency: 1d
queryPeriod: 1d
triggerOperator: gt
triggerThreshold: 0
tactics:
- Persistence
relevantTechniques:
- T1098
query: |
union isfuzzy=true
(
SecurityEvent
| where EventID == 4738
// 2089 value indicates the Don't Expire Password value has been set
| where UserAccountControl has "%%2089"
| extend Value_2089 = iff(UserAccountControl has "%%2089","'Don't Expire Password' - Enabled", "Not Changed")
// 2050 indicates that the Password Not Required value is NOT set, this often shows up at the same time as a 2089 and is the recommended value. This value may not be in the event.
| extend Value_2050 = iff(UserAccountControl has "%%2050","'Password Not Required' - Disabled", "Not Changed")
// If value %%2082 is present in the 4738 event, this indicates the account has been configured to logon WITHOUT a password. Generally you should only see this value when an account is created and only in Event 4720: Account Creation Event.
| extend Value_2082 = iff(UserAccountControl has "%%2082","'Password Not Required' - Enabled", "Not Changed")
| project StartTime = TimeGenerated, EventID, Activity, Computer, TargetAccount, TargetUserName, TargetDomainName, TargetSid,
AccountType, UserAccountControl, Value_2089, Value_2050, Value_2082, SubjectAccount, SubjectUserName, SubjectDomainName, SubjectUserSid
),
(
WindowsEvent
| where EventID == 4738 and EventData has '2089'
// 2089 value indicates the Don't Expire Password value has been set
| extend UserAccountControl = tostring(EventData.UserAccountControl)
| where UserAccountControl has "%%2089"
| extend Value_2089 = iff(UserAccountControl has "%%2089","'Don't Expire Password' - Enabled", "Not Changed")
// 2050 indicates that the Password Not Required value is NOT set, this often shows up at the same time as a 2089 and is the recommended value. This value may not be in the event.
| extend Value_2050 = iff(UserAccountControl has "%%2050","'Password Not Required' - Disabled", "Not Changed")
// If value %%2082 is present in the 4738 event, this indicates the account has been configured to logon WITHOUT a password. Generally you should only see this value when an account is created and only in Event 4720: Account Creation Event.
| extend Value_2082 = iff(UserAccountControl has "%%2082","'Password Not Required' - Enabled", "Not Changed")
| extend Activity="4738 - A user account was changed."
| extend TargetAccount = strcat(EventData.TargetDomainName,"\\", EventData.TargetUserName)
| extend TargetSid = tostring(EventData.TargetSid)
| extend SubjectAccount = strcat(EventData.SubjectDomainName,"\\", EventData.SubjectUserName)
| extend SubjectUserSid = tostring(EventData.SubjectUserSid)
| extend AccountType=case(SubjectAccount endswith "$" or SubjectUserSid in ("S-1-5-18", "S-1-5-19", "S-1-5-20"), "Machine", isempty(SubjectUserSid), "", "User")
| project StartTime = TimeGenerated, EventID, Activity, Computer, TargetAccount, TargetUserName = tostring(EventData.TargetUserName), TargetDomainName = tostring(EventData.TargetDomainName), TargetSid,
AccountType, UserAccountControl, Value_2089, Value_2050, Value_2082, SubjectAccount, SubjectDomainName = tostring(EventData.SubjectDomainName), SubjectUserName = tostring(EventData.SubjectUserName), SubjectUserSid = tostring(EventData.SubjectUserSid)
)
| extend HostName = tostring(split(Computer, ".")[0]), DomainIndex = toint(indexof(Computer, '.'))
| extend HostNameDomain = iff(DomainIndex != -1, substring(Computer, DomainIndex + 1), Computer)
| project-away DomainIndex
entityMappings:
- entityType: Account
fieldMappings:
- identifier: FullName
columnName: TargetAccount
- identifier: Name
columnName: TargetUserName
- identifier: NTDomain
columnName: TargetDomainName
- entityType: Account
fieldMappings:
- identifier: Sid
columnName: TargetSid
- entityType: Account
fieldMappings:
- identifier: FullName
columnName: SubjectAccount
- identifier: Name
columnName: SubjectUserName
- identifier: NTDomain
columnName: SubjectDomainName
- entityType: Account
fieldMappings:
- identifier: Sid
columnName: SubjectUserSid
- entityType: Host
fieldMappings:
- identifier: FullName
columnName: Computer
- identifier: HostName
columnName: HostName
- identifier: DnsDomain
columnName: HostNameDomain
version: 1.2.2
kind: Scheduled
metadata:
source:
kind: Community
author:
name: Microsoft Security Research
support:
tier: Community
categories:
domains: [ "Security - Others", "Identity" ]
Stages and Predicates
union isfuzzy=true (2 sources)
Each leg below queries one source; the rule matches if any leg does. Sources: SecurityEvent, WindowsEvent
Leg 1: SecurityEvent
SecurityEvent
| where EventID == 4738
| where UserAccountControl has "%%2089"
| extend Value_2089 = iff(UserAccountControl has "%%2089","'Don't Expire Password' - Enabled", "Not Changed")
| extend Value_2050 = iff(UserAccountControl has "%%2050","'Password Not Required' - Disabled", "Not Changed")
| extend Value_2082 = iff(UserAccountControl has "%%2082","'Password Not Required' - Enabled", "Not Changed")
| project StartTime = TimeGenerated, EventID, Activity, Computer, TargetAccount, TargetUserName, TargetDomainName, TargetSid,
AccountType, UserAccountControl, Value_2089, Value_2050, Value_2082, SubjectAccount, SubjectUserName, SubjectDomainName, SubjectUserSid
Leg 2: WindowsEvent
WindowsEvent
| where EventID == 4738 and EventData has '2089'
| extend UserAccountControl = tostring(EventData.UserAccountControl)
| where UserAccountControl has "%%2089"
| extend Value_2089 = iff(UserAccountControl has "%%2089","'Don't Expire Password' - Enabled", "Not Changed")
| extend Value_2050 = iff(UserAccountControl has "%%2050","'Password Not Required' - Disabled", "Not Changed")
| extend Value_2082 = iff(UserAccountControl has "%%2082","'Password Not Required' - Enabled", "Not Changed")
| extend Activity="4738 - A user account was changed."
| extend TargetAccount = strcat(EventData.TargetDomainName,"\\", EventData.TargetUserName)
| extend TargetSid = tostring(EventData.TargetSid)
| extend SubjectAccount = strcat(EventData.SubjectDomainName,"\\", EventData.SubjectUserName)
| extend SubjectUserSid = tostring(EventData.SubjectUserSid)
| extend AccountType=case(SubjectAccount endswith "$" or SubjectUserSid in ("S-1-5-18", "S-1-5-19", "S-1-5-20"), "Machine", isempty(SubjectUserSid), "", "User")
| project StartTime = TimeGenerated, EventID, Activity, Computer, TargetAccount, TargetUserName = tostring(EventData.TargetUserName), TargetDomainName = tostring(EventData.TargetDomainName), TargetSid,
AccountType, UserAccountControl, Value_2089, Value_2050, Value_2082, SubjectAccount, SubjectDomainName = tostring(EventData.SubjectDomainName), SubjectUserName = tostring(EventData.SubjectUserName), SubjectUserSid = tostring(EventData.SubjectUserSid)
Applied to the combined result
| extend HostName = tostring(split(Computer, ".")[0]), DomainIndex = toint(indexof(Computer, '.'))
| extend HostNameDomain = iff(DomainIndex != -1, substring(Computer, DomainIndex + 1), Computer)
| project-away DomainIndex
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 |
|---|---|---|
EventData | match |
|
EventID | eq |
|
UserAccountControl | match |
|
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 |
|---|---|
AccountType | project |
Activity | project |
Computer | project |
EventID | project |
StartTime | project |
SubjectAccount | project |
SubjectDomainName | project |
SubjectUserName | project |
SubjectUserSid | project |
TargetAccount | project |
TargetDomainName | project |
TargetSid | project |
TargetUserName | project |
UserAccountControl | project |
Value_2050 | project |
Value_2082 | project |
Value_2089 | project |
HostName | extend |
HostNameDomain | extend |