Windows Multiple Account Passwords Changed

Status: production
Severity: medium
Group by: LogonId, SubjectDomainName, TargetDomainName, _time, signature, signature_id, user
Author: Mauricio Velazco, Splunk
Source: github.com/splunk/security_content

The following analytic detects instances where more than five unique Windows account passwords are changed within a 10-minute interval. It leverages Event Code 4724 from the Windows Security Event Log, using the wineventlog_security dataset to monitor and count distinct TargetUserName values. This behavior is significant as rapid password changes across multiple accounts are unusual and may indicate unauthorized access or internal compromise. If confirmed malicious, this activity could lead to widespread account compromise, unauthorized access to sensitive information, and potential disruption of services.

Known false positives

Service accounts may be responsible for the creation, deletion or modification of accounts for legitimate purposes. Filter as needed.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Initial Access	`T1078` Valid Accounts
Persistence	`T1078` Valid Accounts `T1098` Account Manipulation
Privilege Escalation	`T1078` Valid Accounts `T1098` Account Manipulation
Stealth	`T1078` Valid Accounts

Telemetry coverage

Provider	Record / event type
Security-Auditing	Event ID 4724: An attempt was made to reset an account's password.

Rule body

name: Windows Multiple Account Passwords Changed
id: faefb681-14be-4f0d-9cac-0bc0160c7280
version: 11
creation_date: '2024-03-06'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Mauricio Velazco, Splunk
status: production
type: TTP
description: The following analytic detects instances where more than five unique Windows account passwords are changed within a 10-minute interval. It leverages Event Code 4724 from the Windows Security Event Log, using the wineventlog_security dataset to monitor and count distinct TargetUserName values. This behavior is significant as rapid password changes across multiple accounts are unusual and may indicate unauthorized access or internal compromise. If confirmed malicious, this activity could lead to widespread account compromise, unauthorized access to sensitive information, and potential disruption of services.
data_source:
    - Windows Event Log Security 4724
search: |-
    `wineventlog_security` EventCode=4724 status=success
      | bucket span=10m _time
      | stats count dc(user) as unique_users values(user) as user values(dest) as dest
        BY EventCode signature _time
           src_user SubjectDomainName TargetDomainName
           Logon_ID
      | where unique_users > 5
      | `windows_multiple_account_passwords_changed_filter`
how_to_implement: To successfully implement this search, you need to be ingesting Domain Controller events with the Windows TA. The Advanced Security Audit policy setting `Audit User Account Management` within `Account Management` needs to be enabled.
known_false_positives: Service accounts may be responsible for the creation, deletion or modification of accounts for legitimate purposes. Filter as needed.
references:
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1098/
finding:
    title: User $src_user$ changed the passwords of multiple accounts in a short period of time.
    entity:
        field: src_user
        type: user
        score: 50
analytic_story:
    - Azure Active Directory Persistence
asset_type: Endpoint
mitre_attack_id:
    - T1098
    - T1078
product:
    - Splunk Enterprise
    - Splunk Enterprise Security
    - Splunk Cloud
category: endpoint
security_domain: endpoint

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: `search`

`wineventlog_security` EventCode=4724 status=success

Stage 2: `bucket`

| bucket span=10m _time

Stage 3: `stats`

| stats count dc(user) as unique_users values(user) as user values(dest) as dest
    BY EventCode signature _time
       src_user SubjectDomainName TargetDomainName
       Logon_ID

Stage 4: `where`

| where unique_users > 5

Stage 5: `search`

| `windows_multiple_account_passwords_changed_filter`

Indicators

These rows show field, operator, and value matches.

Field	Kind	Values	Search
`EventCode`	eq	`4724` corpus 2 (splunk 2)	`field:"EventID" kind:eq value:"4724"`
`status`	eq	`success` corpus 21 (sigma 15, splunk 6)	`field:"status" kind:eq value:"success"`
`unique_users`	gt	`5` corpus 3 (splunk 3)	`field:"unique_users" kind:gt value:"5"`