Detection rules › Splunk

Windows Kerberos Local Successful Logon

Author
Michael Haag, Splunk
Source
upstream

The following analytic identifies a local successful authentication event on a Windows endpoint using the Kerberos package. It detects EventCode 4624 with LogonType 3 and source address 127.0.0.1, indicating a login to the built-in local Administrator account. This activity is significant as it may suggest a Kerberos relay attack, a method attackers use to escalate privileges. If confirmed malicious, this could allow an attacker to gain unauthorized access to sensitive systems, execute arbitrary code, or create new accounts in Active Directory, leading to potential system compromise.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
Credential AccessT1558 Steal or Forge Kerberos Tickets

Event coverage

ProviderEvent IDTitle
Security-Auditing4624An account was successfully logged on.

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: search

search AuthenticationPackageName="Kerberos" EventCode=4624 LogonType=3 action="success" src="127.0.0.1"

Stage 2: fillnull

fillnull

Stage 3: stats

stats BY action, app, authentication_method, dest, dvc, process, process_id, process_name, process_path, signature, signature_id, src, src_port, status, subject, user, user_group, vendor_product

Stage 4: search

search

Stage 5: search

search

Stage 6: search

search `macro`

Indicators

Each row is a field, operator, and value that the rule matches. The corpus column counts how many other rules in the catalog look for the same combination: high numbers point to widely-used, community-vetted indicators. Blank or 1 shows that the indicator is specific to this rule.

FieldKindValues
AuthenticationPackageNameeq
  • Kerberos corpus 2 (sigma 1, splunk 1)
EventCodeeq
  • 4624 corpus 6 (splunk 6)
LogonTypeeq
  • 3 corpus 12 (splunk 7, sigma 5)
actioneq
  • success
srceq
  • 127.0.0.1

Neighbors

Broader alternatives (more inclusive than this rule)

These rules match a superset of what this rule catches. They cover the same events plus more. Use them if you want wider coverage and can absorb more false positives.