> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://cortex-docs.paloaltonetworks.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://cortex-docs.paloaltonetworks.com/analytics-alerts/alerts-by-name/internal-login-password-spray.md).

# Internal Login Password Spray

### Synopsis

| Field                | Value                                      |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------ |
| Activation Period    | 14 Days                                    |
| Training Period      | 30 Days                                    |
| Test Period          | 1 Hour                                     |
| Deduplication Period | 1 Day                                      |
| Required Data        | XDR Agent                                  |
| Detection Modules    | Identity Analytics                         |
| ATT\&CK Tactic       | Credential Access (TA0006)                 |
| ATT\&CK Technique    | Brute Force: Password Spraying (T1110.003) |
| Severity             | Informational                              |

### Description

An abnormally high amount of user account login attempts were seen from a host within a short period of time. This may have resulted from a login password spray attack.

### Attacker's Goals

An attacker may be attempting to gain unauthorized access to user accounts.

### Investigative actions

* Check the amount of time in between each authentication attempt.
* Investigate the reason behind the login failures and if any accounts were locked out.
* Look for any successful authentication attempts and the ratio of login success versus login failures.
* Monitor for potential abuse of MFA on users who have successfully logged in.

### Variations

<details>

<summary>Suspicious intensive and short internal Login Password Spray</summary>

**Synopsis**

| Field             | Value                                      |
| ----------------- | ------------------------------------------ |
| ATT\&CK Tactic    | Credential Access (TA0006)                 |
| ATT\&CK Technique | Brute Force: Password Spraying (T1110.003) |
| Severity          | Medium                                     |

**Description**

An abnormally high number of login attempts within a very short period of time and suspicious automated behavior.

**Attacker's Goals**

An attacker may be attempting to gain unauthorized access to user accounts.

**Investigative actions**

* Check the amount of time in between each authentication attempt.
* Investigate the reason behind the login failures and if any accounts were locked out.
* Look for any successful authentication attempts and the ratio of login success versus login failures.
* Monitor for potential abuse of MFA on users who have successfully logged in.

</details>

<details>

<summary>High-Volume Internal Password Spray Attack</summary>

**Synopsis**

| Field             | Value                                      |
| ----------------- | ------------------------------------------ |
| ATT\&CK Tactic    | Credential Access (TA0006)                 |
| ATT\&CK Technique | Brute Force: Password Spraying (T1110.003) |
| Severity          | Medium                                     |

**Description**

Over 500 user accounts failed to login within a short period of time.

**Attacker's Goals**

An attacker may be attempting to gain unauthorized access to user accounts.

**Investigative actions**

* Check the amount of time in between each authentication attempt.
* Investigate the reason behind the login failures and if any accounts were locked out.
* Look for any successful authentication attempts and the ratio of login success versus login failures.
* Monitor for potential abuse of MFA on users who have successfully logged in.

</details>

<details>

<summary>Internal Login Password Spray with many wrong password attempts</summary>

**Synopsis**

| Field             | Value                                      |
| ----------------- | ------------------------------------------ |
| ATT\&CK Tactic    | Credential Access (TA0006)                 |
| ATT\&CK Technique | Brute Force: Password Spraying (T1110.003) |
| Severity          | Low                                        |

**Description**

An abnormally high amount of user account login attempts with wrong password were seen with a wrong password within a short period of time.

**Attacker's Goals**

An attacker may be attempting to gain unauthorized access to user accounts.

**Investigative actions**

* Check the amount of time in between each authentication attempt.
* Investigate the reason behind the login failures and if any accounts were locked out.
* Look for any successful authentication attempts and the ratio of login success versus login failures.
* Monitor for potential abuse of MFA on users who have successfully logged in.

</details>

<details>

<summary>Internal Login Password Spray attempt on local user</summary>

**Synopsis**

| Field             | Value                                      |
| ----------------- | ------------------------------------------ |
| ATT\&CK Tactic    | Credential Access (TA0006)                 |
| ATT\&CK Technique | Brute Force: Password Spraying (T1110.003) |
| Severity          | Low                                        |

**Description**

An abnormally high number of login attempts with the same username to different domains or local machines within a short period of time.

**Attacker's Goals**

An attacker may be attempting to gain unauthorized access to user accounts.

**Investigative actions**

* Check the amount of time in between each authentication attempt.
* Investigate the reason behind the login failures and if any accounts were locked out.
* Look for any successful authentication attempts and the ratio of login success versus login failures.
* Monitor for potential abuse of MFA on users who have successfully logged in.

</details>

<details>

<summary>Internal Login Password Spray on many users</summary>

**Synopsis**

| Field             | Value                                      |
| ----------------- | ------------------------------------------ |
| ATT\&CK Tactic    | Credential Access (TA0006)                 |
| ATT\&CK Technique | Brute Force: Password Spraying (T1110.003) |
| Severity          | Low                                        |

**Description**

An abnormally high amount of user account login attempts were seen from a host within a short period of time. This may have resulted from a login password spray attack.

**Attacker's Goals**

An attacker may be attempting to gain unauthorized access to user accounts.

**Investigative actions**

* Check the amount of time in between each authentication attempt.
* Investigate the reason behind the login failures and if any accounts were locked out.
* Look for any successful authentication attempts and the ratio of login success versus login failures.
* Monitor for potential abuse of MFA on users who have successfully logged in.

</details>


---

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