Azure AD User Enabled And Password Reset

SPLUNK detection rule by Mauricio Velazco, Gowthamaraj Rajendran, Splunk · Apache-2.0

The following analytic detects an Azure AD user enabling a previously disabled account and resetting its password within 2 minutes. It uses Azure Active Directory events to identify this sequence of actions. This activity is significant because it may indicate an adversary with administrative access attempting to establish a backdoor identity within the Azure AD tenant. If confirmed malicious, this could allow the attacker to maintain persistent access, escalate privileges, and potentially exfiltrate sensitive information from the environment.

name: Azure AD User Enabled And Password Reset
id: 1347b9e8-2daa-4a6f-be73-b421d3d9e268
version: 14
creation_date: '2022-08-30'
modification_date: '2026-05-13'
author: Mauricio Velazco, Gowthamaraj Rajendran, Splunk
status: production
type: TTP
description: The following analytic detects an Azure AD user enabling a previously disabled account and resetting its password within 2 minutes. It uses Azure Active Directory events to identify this sequence of actions. This activity is significant because it may indicate an adversary with administrative access attempting to establish a backdoor identity within the Azure AD tenant. If confirmed malicious, this could allow the attacker to maintain persistent access, escalate privileges, and potentially exfiltrate sensitive information from the environment.
data_source:
    - Azure Active Directory Enable account
    - Azure Active Directory Reset password (by admin)
    - Azure Active Directory Update user
search: |-
    `azure_monitor_aad` (operationName="Enable account" OR operationName="Reset password (by admin)" OR operationName="Update user")
      | transaction user startsWith=(operationName="Enable account") endsWith=(operationName="Reset password (by admin)") maxspan=2m
      | rename properties.* as *
      | rename initiatedBy.user.userPrincipalName as initiatedBy
      | fillnull
      | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime
        BY dest user src
           vendor_account vendor_product initiatedBy
           signature
      | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
      | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
      | `azure_ad_user_enabled_and_password_reset_filter`
how_to_implement: You must install the latest version of Splunk Add-on for Microsoft Cloud Services from Splunkbase(https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/3110/#/details). You must be ingesting Azure Active Directory events into your Splunk environment. This analytic was written to be used with the azure:monitor:aad sourcetype leveraging the AuditLog log category.
known_false_positives: While not common, Administrators may enable accounts and reset their passwords for legitimate reasons. Filter as needed.
references:
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1098/
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: A user account, $user$, was enabled and its password reset within 2 minutes by $initiatedBy$
    entity:
        field: initiatedBy
        type: user
        score: 50
intermediate_findings:
    entities:
        - field: user
          type: user
          score: 50
          message: A user account, $user$, was enabled and its password reset within 2 minutes by $initiatedBy$
analytic_story:
    - Azure Active Directory Persistence
    - Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters
asset_type: Azure Active Directory
mitre_attack_id:
    - T1098
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/T1098/azure_ad_enable_and_reset/azure-audit.log
          source: Azure AD
          sourcetype: azure:monitor:aad
      test_type: unit

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