O365 Multiple Users Failing To Authenticate From Ip

Description

The following analytic identifies instances where more than 10 unique user accounts fail to authenticate from a single IP address within a 5-minute window. This detection leverages O365 audit logs, specifically Azure Active Directory login failures (AzureActiveDirectoryStsLogon). Such activity is significant as it may indicate brute-force attacks or password spraying attempts. If confirmed malicious, this behavior suggests an external entity is attempting to breach security by targeting multiple accounts, potentially leading to unauthorized access. Immediate action is required to block or monitor the suspicious IP and notify affected users to enhance their security measures.

Query · spl

`o365_management_activity` Workload=AzureActiveDirectory Operation=UserLoginFailed ErrorNumber=50126
  | bucket span=5m _time
  | fillnull
  | stats dc(user) as unique_accounts values(user) as user values(LogonError) as LogonError values(signature) as signature values(UserAgent) as user_agent values(dest) as dest
    BY _time src vendor_account
       vendor_product
  | where unique_accounts > 10
  | `o365_multiple_users_failing_to_authenticate_from_ip_filter`

Implementation guide

You must install the Splunk Microsoft Office 365 Add-on and ingest Office 365 management activity events.

Known false positives

  • A source Ip failing to authenticate with multiple users in a short period of time is not common legitimate behavior.

Analyst notes

Known false positives: A source Ip failing to authenticate with multiple users in a short period of time is not common legitimate behavior.

Raw source O365 Multiple Users Failing To Authenticate From Ip · SPL
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Published by splunk/security_content ↗, licensed under Apache 2.0 ↗. Reproduced here unmodified. 
name: O365 Multiple Users Failing To Authenticate From Ip
id: 8d486e2e-3235-4cfe-ac35-0d042e24ecb4
version: 13
creation_date: '2023-12-06'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Mauricio Velazco, Splunk
status: production
type: TTP
description: The following analytic identifies instances where more than 10 unique user accounts fail to authenticate from a single IP address within a 5-minute window. This detection leverages O365 audit logs, specifically Azure Active Directory login failures (AzureActiveDirectoryStsLogon). Such activity is significant as it may indicate brute-force attacks or password spraying attempts. If confirmed malicious, this behavior suggests an external entity is attempting to breach security by targeting multiple accounts, potentially leading to unauthorized access. Immediate action is required to block or monitor the suspicious IP and notify affected users to enhance their security measures.
data_source:
    - O365 UserLoginFailed
search: |-
    `o365_management_activity` Workload=AzureActiveDirectory Operation=UserLoginFailed ErrorNumber=50126
      | bucket span=5m _time
      | fillnull
      | stats dc(user) as unique_accounts values(user) as user values(LogonError) as LogonError values(signature) as signature values(UserAgent) as user_agent values(dest) as dest
        BY _time src vendor_account
           vendor_product
      | where unique_accounts > 10
      | `o365_multiple_users_failing_to_authenticate_from_ip_filter`
how_to_implement: You must install the Splunk Microsoft Office 365 Add-on and ingest Office 365 management activity events.
known_false_positives: A source Ip failing to authenticate with multiple users in a short period of time is not common legitimate behavior.
references:
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1110/003/
    - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security/compass/incident-response-playbook-password-spray
    - https://www.cisa.gov/uscert/ncas/alerts/aa21-008a
    - https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/active-directory/reports-monitoring/reference-sign-ins-error-codes
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: Source Ip $src$ failed to authenticate with 20 users within 5 minutes.
    entity:
        field: user
        type: user
        score: 50
threat_objects:
    - field: src
      type: ip_address
analytic_story:
    - Office 365 Account Takeover
    - NOBELIUM Group
asset_type: O365 Tenant
mitre_attack_id:
    - T1110.003
    - T1110.004
    - T1586.003
product:
    - Splunk Enterprise
    - Splunk Enterprise Security
    - Splunk Cloud
category: cloud
security_domain: identity
tests:
    - name: True Positive Test
      attack_data:
        - data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/attack_techniques/T1110.003/o365_multiple_users_from_ip/o365_multiple_users_from_ip.log
          source: o365
          sourcetype: o365:management:activity
      test_type: unit

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