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Detection rules › Splunk

PingID Multiple Failed MFA Requests For User

Status
production
Severity
medium
Group by
_time, reason, user
Author
Steven Dick
Source
github.com/splunk/security_content

The following analytic identifies multiple failed multi-factor authentication (MFA) requests for a single user within a PingID environment. It triggers when 10 or more MFA prompts fail within 10 minutes, using JSON logs from PingID. This activity is significant as it may indicate an adversary attempting to bypass MFA by bombarding the user with repeated authentication requests. If confirmed malicious, this could lead to unauthorized access, as the user might eventually accept the fraudulent request, compromising the security of the account and potentially the entire network.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
Initial AccessT1078 Valid Accounts
PersistenceT1078 Valid Accounts
Privilege EscalationT1078 Valid Accounts
StealthT1078 Valid Accounts
Credential AccessT1110 Brute Force, T1621 Multi-Factor Authentication Request Generation

Rule body splunk

name: PingID Multiple Failed MFA Requests For User
id: c1bc706a-0025-4814-ad30-288f38865036
version: 8
creation_date: '2023-12-20'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Steven Dick
status: production
type: TTP
description: The following analytic identifies multiple failed multi-factor authentication (MFA) requests for a single user within a PingID environment. It triggers when 10 or more MFA prompts fail within 10 minutes, using JSON logs from PingID. This activity is significant as it may indicate an adversary attempting to bypass MFA by bombarding the user with repeated authentication requests. If confirmed malicious, this could lead to unauthorized access, as the user might eventually accept the fraudulent request, compromising the security of the account and potentially the entire network.
data_source:
    - PingID
search: "`pingid` \"result.status\" IN (\"FAILURE,authFail\",\"UNSUCCESSFUL_ATTEMPT\") | eval time = _time, src = coalesce('resources{}.ipaddress','resources{}.devicemodel'), user = upper('actors{}.name'), object = 'resources{}.devicemodel', reason = 'result.message'| bucket span=10m _time | stats dc(_raw) AS mfa_prompts min(time) as firstTime, max(time) as lastTime values(src) as src by user, reason, _time | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` | where mfa_prompts >= 10 | `pingid_multiple_failed_mfa_requests_for_user_filter`"
how_to_implement: Target environment must ingest JSON logging from a PingID(PingOne) enterprise environment, either via Webhook or Push Subscription.
known_false_positives: False positives may be generated by normal provisioning workflows for user device registration.
references:
    - https://therecord.media/russian-hackers-bypass-2fa-by-annoying-victims-with-repeated-push-notifications/
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1621/
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1110/
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1078/004/
    - https://docs.pingidentity.com/r/en-us/pingoneforenterprise/p14e_subscriptions?tocId=3xhnxjX3VzKNs3SXigWnQA
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: Multiple Failed MFA requests $mfa_prompts$ for user $user$ between $firstTime$ and $lastTime$.
    entity:
        field: user
        type: user
        score: 50
analytic_story:
    - Compromised User Account
asset_type: Identity
mitre_attack_id:
    - T1621
    - T1078
    - T1110
product:
    - Splunk Enterprise
    - Splunk Enterprise Security
    - Splunk Cloud
category: application
security_domain: access
tests:
    - name: True Positive Test
      attack_data:
        - data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/attack_techniques/T1621/pingid/pingid.log
          source: PINGID
          sourcetype: _json
      test_type: unit

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: search

`pingid` "result.status" IN ("FAILURE,authFail","UNSUCCESSFUL_ATTEMPT")

Stage 2: eval

| eval time = _time, src = coalesce('resources{}.ipaddress','resources{}.devicemodel'), user = upper('actors{}.name'), object = 'resources{}.devicemodel', reason = 'result.message'

Stage 3: bucket

| bucket span=10m _time

Stage 4: stats

| stats dc(_raw) AS mfa_prompts min(time) as firstTime, max(time) as lastTime values(src) as src by user, reason, _time

Stage 5: search

| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`

Stage 6: search

| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`

Stage 7: where

| where mfa_prompts >= 10

Stage 8: search

| `pingid_multiple_failed_mfa_requests_for_user_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
"result.status"in
  • "FAILURE,authFail"
  • "UNSUCCESSFUL_ATTEMPT"
mfa_promptsge
  • 10