huntrule

Azure Sign-in Auth Interruption: DeviceAuthenticationRequired/Failed and External Security Challenge

Alerts on Azure sign-in authentication interruptions tied to device authentication and external security challenge failures.

FreeReviewedSigma · Medium · v5
Product
azure
Service
signinlogs
Author
Austin Songer @austinsonger (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published
2021-11-26
Updated
2026-07-31
AnalysisDetection

ATT&CK techniques

Initial Access → Defense Evasion

  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Persistence

  6. Priv Esc

  7. Defense Evasion

  8. Cred Access

  9. Discovery

  10. Lateral Movement

  11. Collection

  12. C2

  13. Exfiltration

  14. Impact

What it detects

This rule flags Azure sign-in events where authentication is interrupted or not completed, including cases indicating device authentication is required, device authentication failure, or an unsatisfied external security challenge. Attackers may force or exploit authentication breakpoints to evade access controls or disrupt sign-in flows before continuing with privilege escalation or persistence attempts. Detection relies on Azure sign-in log fields capturing specific ResultType values and their associated ResultDescription text.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1078 — drag to rearrange
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Malicious Network Login Performed to Multiple Targets (via security)
Malicious RDP Reconnaissance with Valid Credentials Performed on Multiple Hosts (via security)
Malicious Local Administrator Added by Atera RMM Agent
Azure Sign-in Auth Interruption: DeviceAuthenticationRequired/Failed and External Security Challenge
Pivot detection · T1078 · 9 related

Changelog

v5
  1. v5
    Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
  2. v4
    Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
  3. v3
    Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
  4. v2
    Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
  5. v1
    No 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.