Detection: AWS Successful Single-Factor Authentication

Description

The following analytic identifies a successful Console Login authentication event for an AWS IAM user account without Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) enabled. It leverages AWS CloudTrail logs to detect instances where MFA was not used during login. This activity is significant as it may indicate a misconfiguration, policy violation, or potential account takeover attempt. If confirmed malicious, an attacker could gain unauthorized access to the AWS environment, potentially leading to data exfiltration, resource manipulation, or further privilege escalation.

1`cloudtrail` eventName= ConsoleLogin errorCode=success "additionalEventData.MFAUsed"=No 
2| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime by src eventName eventSource aws_account_id errorCode additionalEventData.MFAUsed userAgent eventID awsRegion user_name userIdentity.arn 
3| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
4| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
5| `aws_successful_single_factor_authentication_filter`

Data Source

Name Platform Sourcetype Source
AWS CloudTrail ConsoleLogin AWS icon AWS 'aws:cloudtrail' 'aws_cloudtrail'

Macros Used

Name Value
cloudtrail sourcetype=aws:cloudtrail
aws_successful_single_factor_authentication_filter search *
aws_successful_single_factor_authentication_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
ID Technique Tactic
T1586 Compromise Accounts Resource Development
T1586.003 Cloud Accounts Resource Development
T1078 Valid Accounts Defense Evasion
T1078.004 Cloud Accounts Initial Access
KillChainPhase.DELIVERY
KillChainPhase.EXPLOITAITON
KillChainPhase.INSTALLATION
KillChainPhase.WEAPONIZATION
NistCategory.DE_CM
Cis18Value.CIS_10
APT29
APT18
APT28
APT29
APT33
APT39
APT41
Akira
Axiom
Carbanak
Chimera
Cinnamon Tempest
Dragonfly
FIN10
FIN4
FIN5
FIN6
FIN7
FIN8
Fox Kitten
GALLIUM
INC Ransom
Indrik Spider
Ke3chang
LAPSUS$
Lazarus Group
Leviathan
OilRig
POLONIUM
PittyTiger
Play
Sandworm Team
Silence
Silent Librarian
Star Blizzard
Suckfly
Threat Group-3390
Volt Typhoon
Wizard Spider
menuPass
APT28
APT29
APT33
APT5
Ke3chang
LAPSUS$

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

The Splunk AWS Add-on is required to utilize this data. The search requires AWS CloudTrail logs.

Known False Positives

It is possible that some accounts do not have MFA enabled for the AWS account however its agaisnt the best practices of securing AWS.

Associated Analytic Story

Risk Based Analytics (RBA)

Risk Message Risk Score Impact Confidence
User $user_name$ has successfully logged into an AWS Console without Multi-Factor Authentication from $src$ 64 80 80
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 aws_cloudtrail aws:cloudtrail
Integration ✅ Passing Dataset aws_cloudtrail aws:cloudtrail

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