Azure Entra ID risk event: successful password spray detection
Flags Azure Entra ID risk events indicating a successful password spray attempt.
- Product
- azure
- Service
- riskdetection
- Author
- Mark Morowczynski '@markmorow', Gloria Lee, '@gleeiamglo' (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
- Published
- 2023-09-03
- Updated
- 2026-07-31
ATT&CK techniques
Cred AccessRecon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact
What it detects
This rule flags Azure Entra ID Risk Detection events where the riskEventType is passwordSpray, indicating a successful password spray attempt. Attackers use password spraying to compromise accounts by trying the same password across many users while avoiding lockouts. The detection relies on risk telemetry from the Azure risk detection service indicating the specific password spray risk type.
Reporting behind it
- learn.microsoft.comhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/id-protection/concept-identity-protection-risks#password-spray
- learn.microsoft.comhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/architecture/security-operations-user-accounts#unusual-sign-ins
- github.comhttps://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/cloud/azure/identity_protection/azure_identity_protection_password_spray.yml
Changelog
v5- v5Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
- v4Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
- v3Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
- v2Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
- v1No changelog recorded for this version.2026-07-30
Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.
title: "Azure Entra ID risk event: successful password spray detection"
id: 4255005d-4ae4-434b-9a89-75deb87499c1
status: test
description: This rule flags Azure Entra ID Risk Detection events where the riskEventType is passwordSpray, indicating a successful password spray attempt. Attackers use password spraying to compromise accounts by trying the same password across many users while avoiding lockouts. The detection relies on risk telemetry from the Azure risk detection service indicating the specific password spray risk type.
references:
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/id-protection/concept-identity-protection-risks#password-spray
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/architecture/security-operations-user-accounts#unusual-sign-ins
- https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/cloud/azure/identity_protection/azure_identity_protection_password_spray.yml
author: Mark Morowczynski '@markmorow', Gloria Lee, '@gleeiamglo', Huntrule Team
date: 2023-09-03
tags:
- attack.t1110
- attack.credential-access
logsource:
product: azure
service: riskdetection
detection:
selection:
riskEventType: passwordSpray
condition: selection
falsepositives:
- We recommend investigating the sessions flagged by this detection in the context of other sign-ins from the user.
level: high
license: DRL-1.1
related:
- id: 28ecba0a-c743-4690-ad29-9a8f6f25a6f9
type: derived