Detection rules › Splunk
AWS Multi-Factor Authentication Disabled
The following analytic detects attempts to disable multi-factor authentication (MFA) for an AWS IAM user. It leverages AWS CloudTrail logs to identify events where MFA devices are deleted or deactivated. This activity is significant because disabling MFA can indicate an adversary attempting to weaken account security, potentially to maintain persistence using a compromised account. If confirmed malicious, this action could allow attackers to retain access to the AWS environment without detection, posing a significant risk to the security and integrity of the cloud infrastructure.
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Resource Development | T1586.003 Compromise Accounts: Cloud Accounts |
| Persistence | T1556.006 Modify Authentication Process: Multi-Factor Authentication |
| Defense Impairment | T1556.006 Modify Authentication Process: Multi-Factor Authentication |
| Credential Access | T1556.006 Modify Authentication Process: Multi-Factor Authentication, T1621 Multi-Factor Authentication Request Generation |
Rules detecting the same action
Other rules on this platform that filter on the same API call or operation.
Rule body splunk
name: AWS Multi-Factor Authentication Disabled
id: 374832b1-3603-420c-b456-b373e24d34c0
version: 12
creation_date: '2022-10-04'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Bhavin Patel, Splunk
status: production
type: TTP
description: The following analytic detects attempts to disable multi-factor authentication (MFA) for an AWS IAM user. It leverages AWS CloudTrail logs to identify events where MFA devices are deleted or deactivated. This activity is significant because disabling MFA can indicate an adversary attempting to weaken account security, potentially to maintain persistence using a compromised account. If confirmed malicious, this action could allow attackers to retain access to the AWS environment without detection, posing a significant risk to the security and integrity of the cloud infrastructure.
data_source:
- AWS CloudTrail DeleteVirtualMFADevice
- AWS CloudTrail DeactivateMFADevice
search: |-
`cloudtrail` (eventName= DeleteVirtualMFADevice OR eventName=DeactivateMFADevice)
| rename user_name as user
| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime
BY signature dest user
user_agent src vendor_account
vendor_region vendor_product
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
| `aws_multi_factor_authentication_disabled_filter`
how_to_implement: The Splunk AWS Add-on is required to utilize this data. The search requires AWS CloudTrail logs.
known_false_positives: AWS Administrators may disable MFA but it is highly unlikely for this event to occur without prior notice to the company
references:
- https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1621/
- https://aws.amazon.com/what-is/mfa/
drilldown_searches:
- name: View the detection results for - "$vendor_account$" and "$user$"
search: '%original_detection_search% | search vendor_account = "$vendor_account$" user = "$user$"'
earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
latest_offset: $info_max_time$
- name: View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$vendor_account$" and "$user$"
search: '| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$vendor_account$", "$user$") | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(search_name) as "Search Name" values(risk_message) as "Risk Message" values(analyticstories) as "Analytic Stories" values(annotations._all) as "Annotations" values(annotations.mitre_attack.mitre_tactic) as "ATT&CK Tactics" by normalized_risk_object | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`'
earliest_offset: 7d
latest_offset: "0"
finding:
title: User $user$ has disabled Multi-Factor authentication for AWS account $vendor_account$
entity:
field: user
type: user
score: 50
threat_objects:
- field: src
type: ip_address
analytic_story:
- AWS Identity and Access Management Account Takeover
- Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters
asset_type: AWS Account
mitre_attack_id:
- T1556.006
- T1586.003
- T1621
product:
- Splunk Enterprise
- Splunk Enterprise Security
- Splunk Cloud
category: cloud
security_domain: threat
tests:
- name: True Positive Test
attack_data:
- data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/attack_techniques/T1621/aws_mfa_disabled/cloudtrail.json
sourcetype: aws:cloudtrail
source: aws_cloudtrail
test_type: unit
Stages and Predicates
Stage 1: search
`cloudtrail` (eventName= DeleteVirtualMFADevice OR eventName=DeactivateMFADevice)
Stage 2: rename
| rename user_name as user
Stage 3: stats
| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime
BY signature dest user
user_agent src vendor_account
vendor_region vendor_product
Stage 4: search
| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
Stage 5: search
| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
Stage 6: search
| `aws_multi_factor_authentication_disabled_filter`
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 |
|---|---|---|
eventName | eq |
|
sourcetype | eq |
|