Okta Rate Limits

Severity: low
Group by: actor.id
Log types: Okta.SystemLog
Tags: Credential Access, Brute Force, Impact, Network Denial of Service
Reference: https://developer.okta.com/docs/reference/rl-system-log-events/
Source: github.com/panther-labs/panther-analysis

Potential DoS/Bruteforce attack or hitting limits (system degradation)

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Credential Access	`T1110` Brute Force
Impact	`T1498` Network Denial of Service

Rule body yaml

AnalysisType: rule
Description: Potential DoS/Bruteforce attack or hitting limits (system degradation)
DisplayName: "Okta Rate Limits"
Enabled: true
Filename: okta_rate_limits.py
Severity: Low
Tags:
  - Credential Access
  - Brute Force
  - Impact
  - Network Denial of Service
Reports:
  MITRE ATT&CK:
    - TA0006:T1110
    - TA0040:T1498
Reference: https://developer.okta.com/docs/reference/rl-system-log-events/
DedupPeriodMinutes: 1440 # 24 hours
LogTypes:
  - Okta.SystemLog
RuleID: "Okta.Rate.Limits"
Threshold: 1
Tests:
  - ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      actor:
        alternateId: homer.simpson@duff.com
        displayName: Homer Simpson
        id: 00abc456
        type: User
      authenticationcontext:
        authenticationStep: 0
        externalSessionId: abc12345
      client:
        device: Unknown
        ipAddress: 1.2.3.4
        userAgent:
          browser: UNKNOWN
          os: Unknown
          rawUserAgent: Chrome
        zone: "null"
      debugcontext:
        debugData:
          rateLimitScopeType: ORG
          rateLimitSecondsToReset: "11"
          requestId: abc1234
          requestUri: /api/v1/users
          threshold: "500"
          timeSpan: "1"
          timeUnit: MINUTES
          url: /api/v1/users?limit=100
          userId: abc1234
          warningPercent: "80"
      displaymessage: Rate limit warning
      eventtype: system.org.rate_limit.warning
      legacyeventtype: core.framework.ratelimit.warning
      outcome:
        result: SUCCESS
      published: "2022-08-26 07:51:24.601"
      request:
        ipChain:
          - ip: 1.2.3.4
            version: V4
      securitycontext: {}
      severity: INFO
      target:
        - id: /api/v1/users
          type: URL Pattern
        - id: abc12345
          type: Bucket Uuid
      transaction:
        detail:
          requestApiTokenId: A.12345.DEFGH
        id: ABC1235
        type: WEB
      uuid: abc-1234-abcd
      version: "0"
    Name: system.org.ratelimit.warning
  - ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      actor:
        alternateId: homer.simpson@duff.com
        displayName: Homer Simpson
        id: 00abc456
        type: User
      authenticationcontext:
        authenticationStep: 0
        externalSessionId: abc12345
      client:
        device: Unknown
        ipAddress: 1.2.3.4
        userAgent:
          browser: UNKNOWN
          os: Unknown
          rawUserAgent: Chrome
        zone: "null"
      debugcontext:
        debugData:
          authnRequestId: ABCDFDE
          dtHash: adfalsjflasfjsdfd
          operationRateLimitScopeType: User
          operationRateLimitSecondsToReset: "10"
          operationRateLimitSubtype: Authenticated user
          operationRateLimitThreshold: "40"
          operationRateLimitTimeSpan: "10"
          operationRateLimitTimeUnit: SECONDS
          operationRateLimitType: Web request
          requestId: asfsagadffdaf
          requestUri: /app/google/
          url: /app/google/
      displaymessage: Operation rate limit violation
      eventtype: system.operation.rate_limit.violation
      outcome:
        reason: Too many requests attempted by an individual user
        result: DENY
      published: "2022-08-29 16:07:26.592"
      request:
        ipChain:
          - ip: 1.2.3.4
            version: V4
      securitycontext: {}
      severity: WARN
      target:
        - id: /app/{app}/{key}/
          type: URL Pattern
      transaction:
        detail: {}
        id: YABCDE
        type: WEB
      uuid: asdfdashh
      version: "0"
    Name: system.operation.ratelimit.violation
  - ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      actor:
        alternateId: homer.simpson@duff.com
        displayName: Homer Simpson
        id: 00abc456
        type: User
      authenticationcontext:
        authenticationStep: 0
        externalSessionId: abc12345
      client:
        device: Unknown
        ipAddress: 1.2.3.4
        userAgent:
          browser: UNKNOWN
          os: Unknown
          rawUserAgent: Chrome
        zone: "null"
      debugcontext:
        debugData: {}
      eventtype: application.integration.rate_limit_exceeded
      legacyeventtype: app.api.error.rate.limit.exceeded
      outcome:
        result: SUCCESS
      published: "2022-06-10 17:19:58.423"
      request: {}
      securitycontext: {}
      severity: INFO
      target:
        - alternateId: "App "
          displayName: App
          id: "12345"
          type: AppInstance
      transaction:
        detail: {}
        id: sdfg
        type: JOB
      uuid: aaa-bb-ccc
      version: "0"
    Name: application.integration.rate_limit_exceeded
  - ExpectedResult: false
    Log:
      actor:
        alternateId: homer.simpson@duff.com
        displayName: Homer Simpsons
        id: 00ABC123
        type: User
      authenticationcontext:
        authenticationStep: 0
        externalSessionId: xyz1234
      client:
        device: Computer
        geographicalContext:
          city: Springfield
          country: United States
          geolocation:
            lat: 11.111
            lon: -70
          postalCode: "1234"
          state: California
        ipAddress: 1.2.3.4
        userAgent:
          browser: CHROME
          os: Mac OS X
          rawUserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/108.0.0.0 Safari/537.36
        zone: "null"
      debugcontext:
        debugData:
          authnRequestId: ABC123
          deviceFingerprint: 009988771ABC
          dtHash: 123abc1234
          requestId: abc-111-adf
          requestUri: /idp/idx/identify
          threatSuspected: "false"
          url: /idp/idx/identify?
      displaymessage: Group Privilege granted
      eventtype: group.privilege.grant
      legacyeventtype: group.privilege.grant
      outcome:
        result: FAILURE
      published: "2022-12-13 00:58:19.811"
      request:
        ipChain:
          - geographicalContext:
              city: Springfield
              country: United States
              geolocation:
                lat: 11.111
                lon: -70
              postalCode: "1234"
              state: California
            ip: 1.2.3.4
            version: V4
      securitycontext:
        asNumber: 11351
        asOrg: charter communications inc
        domain: rr.com
        isProxy: false
        isp: charter communications inc
      severity: WARN
      target:
        - alternateId: App (123)
          displayName: App (123)
          id: "12345"
          type: AppInstance
      transaction:
        detail: {}
        id: aaa-bbb-123
        type: WEB
      uuid: aa-11-22-33-44-bb
      version: "0"
    Name: Non event
  - ExpectedResult: true
    Log:
      actor:
        alternateId: unknown
        displayName: Homer Simpson
        id: 00abc456
        type: User
      authenticationcontext:
        authenticationStep: 0
        externalSessionId: abc12345
      client:
        device: Unknown
        ipAddress: 1.2.3.4
        userAgent:
          browser: UNKNOWN
          os: Unknown
          rawUserAgent: Chrome
        zone: "null"
      debugcontext:
        debugData:
          authnRequestId: ABCDFDE
          dtHash: adfalsjflasfjsdfd
          operationRateLimitScopeType: User
          operationRateLimitSecondsToReset: "10"
          operationRateLimitSubtype: Authenticated user
          operationRateLimitThreshold: "40"
          operationRateLimitTimeSpan: "10"
          operationRateLimitTimeUnit: SECONDS
          operationRateLimitType: Web request
          requestId: asfsagadffdaf
          requestUri: /app/google/
          url: /app/google/
      displaymessage: Operation rate limit violation
      eventtype: system.operation.rate_limit.violation
      outcome:
        reason: Too many requests attempted by an individual user
        result: DENY
      published: "2022-08-29 16:07:26.592"
      request:
        ipChain:
          - ip: 1.2.3.4
            version: V4
      securitycontext: {}
      severity: WARN
      target:
        - id: /app/{app}/{key}/
          type: URL Pattern
      transaction:
        detail: {}
        id: YABCDE
        type: WEB
      uuid: asdfdashh
      version: "0"
    Name: system.operation.ratelimit.violation - unknown altid

Detection logic

Condition

(eventtype wildcard "app.oauth2.client_id_rate_limit_warning" and eventtype contains "violation") or (eventtype wildcard "application.integration.rate_limit_exceeded" and eventtype contains "violation") or (eventtype wildcard "system.client.rate_limit.*" and eventtype contains "violation") or (eventtype wildcard "system.client.concurrency_rate_limit.*" and eventtype contains "violation") or (eventtype wildcard "system.operation.rate_limit.*" and eventtype contains "violation") or (eventtype wildcard "system.org.rate_limit.*" and eventtype contains "violation") or (eventtype wildcard "core.concurrency.org.limit.violation" and eventtype contains "violation")

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
`event_type`	`eventtype`
`severity`
`actor`
`client`
`request`
`outcome`
`target`
`debug_context`	`debugcontext`
`authentication_context`	`authenticationcontext`
`security_context`	`securitycontext`
`ips`	`p_any_ip_addresses`
`displayName`	`actor.displayName`
`type`	`actor.type`

`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)