Detection rules › Splunk

Windows RDP Login Session Was Established

Author
Teoderick Contreras, Splunk
Source
upstream

The following analytic detects instances where a successful Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) login session was established, as indicated by Windows Security Event ID 4624 with Logon Type 10. This event confirms that a user has not only provided valid credentials but has also initiated a full interactive RDP session. It is a key indicator of successful remote access to a Windows system. When correlated with Event ID 1149, which logs RDP authentication success, this analytic helps distinguish between mere credential acceptance and actual session establishment—critical for effective monitoring and threat detection.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

TacticTechniques
Lateral MovementT1021.001 Remote Services: Remote Desktop Protocol

Event coverage

ProviderEvent IDTitle
Security-Auditing4624An account was successfully logged on.

Stages and Predicates

Stage 1: search

search EventCode=4624 Logon_Type=10

Stage 2: 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, Logon_Type

Stage 3: search

search

Stage 4: search

search

Stage 5: 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
EventCodeeq
  • 4624 corpus 6 (splunk 6)
Logon_Typeeq
  • 10 corpus 4 (sigma 3, splunk 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.