Okta Successful Single Factor Authentication

Status: production
Severity: low
Group by: action, dest, src_ip, user
Author: Bhavin Patel, Splunk
Source: github.com/splunk/security_content

The following analytic identifies successful single-factor authentication events against the Okta Dashboard for accounts without Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) enabled. It detects this activity by analyzing Okta logs for successful authentication events where "Okta Verify" is not used. This behavior is significant as it may indicate a misconfiguration, policy violation, or potential account takeover. If confirmed malicious, an attacker could gain unauthorized access to the account, potentially leading to data breaches or further exploitation within the environment.

Known false positives

Although not recommended, certain users may be exempt from multi-factor authentication. Adjust the filter as necessary.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Resource Development	`T1586.003` Compromise Accounts: Cloud Accounts
Initial Access	`T1078.004` Valid Accounts: Cloud Accounts
Persistence	`T1078.004` Valid Accounts: Cloud Accounts
Privilege Escalation	`T1078.004` Valid Accounts: Cloud Accounts
Stealth	`T1078.004` Valid Accounts: Cloud Accounts
Credential Access	`T1621` Multi-Factor Authentication Request Generation

Telemetry coverage

Platform	Record / event type
Okta	System Log event type `user.authentication.auth_via_mfa`: User authenticated via MFA
Okta	System Log event type `user.authentication.verify`: User identity verified

Rules detecting the same action

These rules filter on the same operation.

First Occurrence of Okta User Session Started via Proxy (Elastic)
MFA Fatigue (OKTA) (Kusto)
Okta AiTM Phishing Attempt Blocked by FastPass (Panther)
Okta Authentication Failed During MFA Challenge (Splunk)
Okta Fast Pass phishing Detection (Kusto)
Okta FastPass Phishing Detection (Sigma)
Okta FastPass Phishing Detection (Elastic)
Okta MFA Bruteforce Attack (YARA-L)

Rule body

name: Okta Successful Single Factor Authentication
id: 98f6ad4f-4325-4096-9d69-45dc8e638e82
version: 11
creation_date: '2024-04-17'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Bhavin Patel, Splunk
status: production
type: Anomaly
description: The following analytic identifies successful single-factor authentication events against the Okta Dashboard for accounts without Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) enabled. It detects this activity by analyzing Okta logs for successful authentication events where "Okta Verify" is not used. This behavior is significant as it may indicate a misconfiguration, policy violation, or potential account takeover. If confirmed malicious, an attacker could gain unauthorized access to the account, potentially leading to data breaches or further exploitation within the environment.
data_source:
    - Okta
search: |-
    `okta`  action=success src_user_type = User eventType = user.authentication.verify OR eventType = user.authentication.auth_via_mfa
      | stats dc(eventType) values(eventType) as eventType values(target{}.displayName) as targets values(debugContext.debugData.url) min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(authentication_method)
        BY src_ip user action
           dest
      | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
      | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
      | search targets !="Okta Verify"
      | `okta_successful_single_factor_authentication_filter`
how_to_implement: This detection utilizes logs from Okta environments and requires the ingestion of OktaIm2 logs through the Splunk Add-on for Okta Identity Cloud (https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/6553).
known_false_positives: Although not recommended, certain users may be exempt from multi-factor authentication. Adjust the filter as necessary.
references:
    - https://sec.okta.com/everythingisyes
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1078/004/
intermediate_findings:
    entities:
        - field: user
          type: user
          score: 20
          message: A user [$user$] has successfully logged in to Okta Dashboard with single factor authentication from IP Address - [$src_ip$].
analytic_story:
    - Okta Account Takeover
asset_type: Okta Tenant
mitre_attack_id:
    - T1078.004
    - T1586.003
    - T1621
product:
    - Splunk Enterprise
    - Splunk Enterprise Security
    - Splunk Cloud
category: application
security_domain: identity

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `search`

`okta`  action=success src_user_type = User eventType = user.authentication.verify OR eventType = user.authentication.auth_via_mfa

Stage 2: `stats`

| stats dc(eventType) values(eventType) as eventType values(target{}.displayName) as targets values(debugContext.debugData.url) min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(authentication_method)
    BY src_ip user action
       dest

Stage 3: `search`

| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`

Stage 4: `search`

| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`

Stage 5: `search`

| search targets !="Okta Verify"

Stage 6: `search`

| `okta_successful_single_factor_authentication_filter`

Indicators

These rows show field, operator, and value matches.

Field	Kind	Values	Search
`action`	eq	`success`	`field:"action" kind:eq value:"success"`
`eventType`	eq	`user.authentication.auth_via_mfa` `user.authentication.verify`	`field:"eventType" kind:eq`
`sourcetype`	eq	`OktaIM2:log`	`field:"sourcetype" kind:eq value:"OktaIM2:log"`
`src_user_type`	eq	`User`	`field:"src_user_type" kind:eq value:"User"`
`targets`	ne	`"Okta Verify"`	`field:"targets" kind:ne`