Detect Excessive User Account Lockouts

name: Detect Excessive User Account Lockouts
id: 95a7f9a5-6096-437e-a19e-86f42ac609bd
version: 15
creation_date: '2020-04-29'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: David Dorsey, Splunk
status: production
type: Anomaly
description: The following analytic identifies user accounts experiencing an excessive number of lockouts within a short timeframe. It leverages the 'Change' data model, specifically focusing on events where the result indicates a lockout. This activity is significant as it may indicate a brute-force attack or misconfiguration, both of which require immediate attention. If confirmed malicious, this behavior could lead to account compromise, unauthorized access, and potential lateral movement within the network.
data_source: []
search: |-
    | tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime FROM datamodel=Change.All_Changes
      WHERE All_Changes.result="*lock*"
      BY All_Changes.user All_Changes.result
    | `drop_dm_object_name("All_Changes")`
    | `drop_dm_object_name("Account_Management")`
    | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
    | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
    | search count > 5
    | `detect_excessive_user_account_lockouts_filter`
how_to_implement: ou must ingest your Windows security event logs in the `Change` datamodel under the nodename is `Account_Management`, for this search to execute successfully. Please consider updating the cron schedule and the count of lockouts you want to monitor, according to your environment.
known_false_positives: It is possible that a legitimate user is experiencing an issue causing multiple account login failures leading to lockouts.
references: []
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"
intermediate_findings:
    entities:
        - field: user
          type: user
          score: 20
          message: Excessive user account lockouts for $user$ in a short period of time
analytic_story:
    - Active Directory Password Spraying
    - Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters
asset_type: Windows
mitre_attack_id:
    - T1078.003
product:
    - Splunk Enterprise
    - Splunk Enterprise Security
    - Splunk Cloud
category: endpoint
security_domain: access
tests:
    - name: True Positive Test
      attack_data:
        - data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/attack_techniques/T1078.002/account_lockout/windows-xml-1.log
          source: XmlWinEventLog:Security
          sourcetype: XmlWinEventLog
      test_type: unit