| ID | Technique | Tactic |
|---|---|---|
| T1098 | Account Manipulation | Persistence |
Detection: Azure AD User Enabled And Password Reset
Description
The following analytic detects an Azure AD user enabling a previously disabled account and resetting its password within 2 minutes. It uses Azure Active Directory events to identify this sequence of actions. This activity is significant because it may indicate an adversary with administrative access attempting to establish a backdoor identity within the Azure AD tenant. If confirmed malicious, this could allow the attacker to maintain persistent access, escalate privileges, and potentially exfiltrate sensitive information from the environment.
Search
1 `azure_monitor_aad` (operationName="Enable account" OR operationName="Reset password (by admin)" OR operationName="Update user")
2| transaction user startsWith=(operationName="Enable account") endsWith=(operationName="Reset password (by admin)") maxspan=2m
3| rename properties.* as *
4| rename initiatedBy.user.userPrincipalName as initiatedBy
5| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(operationName) as operationName values(initiatedBy) as initiatedBy by user, result
6| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
7| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
8| `azure_ad_user_enabled_and_password_reset_filter`
Data Source
| Name | Platform | Sourcetype | Source | Supported App |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Azure Active Directory Enable account |  Azure |
'azure:monitor:aad' |
'Azure AD' |
N/A |
Macros Used
| Name | Value |
|---|---|
| azure_monitor_aad | sourcetype=azure:monitor:aad |
| azure_ad_user_enabled_and_password_reset_filter | search * |
azure_ad_user_enabled_and_password_reset_filter is an empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.
Annotations
MITRE ATT&CK
Kill Chain Phases
NIST
CIS
Threat Actors
KillChainPhase.EXPLOITAITON
KillChainPhase.INSTALLATION
NistCategory.DE_CM
Cis18Value.CIS_10
APT3
APT41
APT5
Dragonfly
FIN13
HAFNIUM
Kimsuky
Lazarus Group
Magic Hound
Default Configuration
This detection is configured by default in Splunk Enterprise Security to run with the following settings:
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Disabled | true |
| Cron Schedule | 0 * * * * |
| Earliest Time | -70m@m |
| Latest Time | -10m@m |
| Schedule Window | auto |
| Creates Notable | Yes |
| Rule Title | %name% |
| Rule Description | %description% |
| Notable Event Fields | user, dest |
| Creates Risk Event | True |
This configuration file applies to all detections of type TTP. These detections will use Risk Based Alerting and generate Notable Events.
Implementation
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. This analytic was written to be used with the azure:monitor:aad sourcetype leveraging the AuditLog log category.
Known False Positives
While not common, Administrators may enable accounts and reset their passwords for legitimate reasons. Filter as needed.
Associated Analytic Story
Risk Based Analytics (RBA)
| Risk Message | Risk Score | Impact | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| A user account, $user$, was enabled and its password reset within 2 minutes by $initiatedBy$ | 45 | 50 | 90 |
The Risk Score is calculated by the following formula: Risk Score = (Impact * Confidence/100). Initial Confidence and Impact is set by the analytic author.
References
Detection Testing
| Test Type | Status | Dataset | Source | Sourcetype |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Validation | ✅ Passing | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Unit | ✅ Passing | Dataset | Azure AD |
azure:monitor:aad |
| Integration | ✅ Passing | Dataset | Azure AD |
azure:monitor:aad |
Replay any dataset to Splunk Enterprise by using our replay.py tool or the UI.
Alternatively you can replay a dataset into a Splunk Attack Range
Source: GitHub | Version: 3