Detection rules › Splunk

Azure AD High Number Of Failed Authentications From Ip

Status
production
Severity
medium
Group by
_time, aws::recipientAccountId, src, vendor_product
Author
Mauricio Velazco, Bhavin Patel, Splunk
Source
github.com/splunk/security_content

The following analytic detects an IP address with 20 or more failed authentication attempts to an Azure AD tenant within 10 minutes. It leverages Azure AD SignInLogs to identify repeated failed logins from the same IP. This behavior is significant as it may indicate a brute force attack aimed at gaining unauthorized access or escalating privileges. If confirmed malicious, the attacker could potentially compromise user accounts, leading to unauthorized access to sensitive information and resources within the Azure environment.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Rules detecting the same action

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

Rule body splunk

name: Azure AD High Number Of Failed Authentications From Ip
id: e5ab41bf-745d-4f72-a393-2611151afd8e
version: 14
creation_date: '2023-01-23'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Mauricio Velazco, Bhavin Patel, Splunk
status: production
type: TTP
description: The following analytic detects an IP address with 20 or more failed authentication attempts to an Azure AD tenant within 10 minutes. It leverages Azure AD SignInLogs to identify repeated failed logins from the same IP. This behavior is significant as it may indicate a brute force attack aimed at gaining unauthorized access or escalating privileges. If confirmed malicious, the attacker could potentially compromise user accounts, leading to unauthorized access to sensitive information and resources within the Azure environment.
data_source:
    - Azure Active Directory
search: |
    `azure_monitor_aad`
    category=SignInLogs
    properties.status.errorCode=50126
    properties.authenticationDetails{}.succeeded=false
    | rename properties.* as *
    | bin span=10m _time
    | fillnull value=null
    | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(dest) as dest values(user) as user values(user_agent) as user_agent by src _time vendor_account vendor_product
    | where count > 20
    | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
    | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
    | `azure_ad_high_number_of_failed_authentications_from_ip_filter`
how_to_implement: You must install the latest version of Splunk Add-on for Microsoft Cloud Services from Splunkbase (https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/3110/#/details). You must be ingesting Azure Active Directory events into your Splunk environment through an EventHub. This analytic was written to be used with the azure:monitor:aad sourcetype leveraging the SignInLogs log category.
known_false_positives: An Ip address with more than 20 failed authentication attempts in the span of 10 minutes may also be triggered by a broken application.
references:
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1110/
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1110/001/
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1110/003/
drilldown_searches:
    - name: View the detection results for - "$user$"
      search: '%original_detection_search% | search  user = "$user$"'
      earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
      latest_offset: $info_max_time$
    - name: View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$user$"
      search: '| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$user$") | 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: $src$ failed to authenticate more than 20 times in the span of 10 minutes.
    entity:
        field: user
        type: user
        score: 50
threat_objects:
    - field: src
      type: ip_address
analytic_story:
    - Compromised User Account
    - Azure Active Directory Account Takeover
    - NOBELIUM Group
asset_type: Azure Tenant
mitre_attack_id:
    - T1110.001
    - T1110.003
product:
    - Splunk Enterprise
    - Splunk Enterprise Security
    - Splunk Cloud
category: cloud
security_domain: identity
tests:
    - name: True Positive Test
      attack_data:
        - data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/attack_techniques/T1110.001/azure_ad_high_number_of_failed_authentications_for_user/azuread.log
          source: Azure AD
          sourcetype: azure:monitor:aad
      test_type: unit

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: search

`azure_monitor_aad`
category=SignInLogs
properties.status.errorCode=50126
properties.authenticationDetails{}.succeeded=false

Stage 2: rename

| rename properties.* as *

Stage 3: bucket

| bin span=10m _time

Stage 4: fillnull

| fillnull value=null

Stage 5: stats

| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(dest) as dest values(user) as user values(user_agent) as user_agent by src _time vendor_account vendor_product

Stage 6: where

| where count > 20

Stage 7: search

| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`

Stage 8: search

| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`

Stage 9: search

| `azure_ad_high_number_of_failed_authentications_from_ip_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.

FieldKindValues
categoryeq
  • SignInLogs
countgt
  • 20
properties.authenticationDetails{}.succeededeq
  • false
properties.status.errorCodeeq
  • 50126
sourcetypeeq
  • azure:monitor:aad