Okta Suspicious Use of a Session Cookie

name: Okta Suspicious Use of a Session Cookie
id: 71ad47d1-d6bd-4e0a-b35c-020ad9a6959e
version: 10
date: '2026-03-10'
author: Scott Dermott, Felicity Robson, Okta, Michael Haag, Bhavin Patel, Splunk
type: Anomaly
status: production
data_source:
    - Okta
description: The following analytic identifies suspicious use of a session cookie by detecting multiple client values (IP, User Agent, etc.) changing for the same Device Token associated with a specific user. It leverages policy evaluation events from successful authentication logs in Okta. This activity is significant as it may indicate an adversary attempting to reuse a stolen web session cookie, potentially bypassing authentication mechanisms. If confirmed malicious, this could allow unauthorized access to user accounts, leading to data breaches or further exploitation within the environment.
search: |-
    `okta` eventType IN (policy.evaluate_sign_on) outcome.result IN (ALLOW, SUCCESS)
      | stats earliest(_time) as _time, values(client.ipAddress) as src_ip, values(client.userAgent.rawUserAgent) as user_agent, values(client.userAgent.os) as userAgentOS_list, values(client.geographicalContext.city) as city, values(client.userAgent.browser) as userAgentBrowser_list, values(device.os_platform) as okta_device_os, dc(client.userAgent.browser) as dc_userAgentBrowser, dc(client.userAgent.os) as dc_userAgentOS, dc(client.ipAddress) as dc_src_ip, values(outcome.reason) as reason values(dest) as dest
        BY debugContext.debugData.dtHash, user
      | where dc_src_ip>1 AND (dc_userAgentOS>1 OR dc_userAgentBrowser>1)
      | `okta_suspicious_use_of_a_session_cookie_filter`
how_to_implement: This detection utilizes logs from Okta Identity Management (IM) environments. It requires the ingestion of OktaIm2 logs through the Splunk Add-on for Okta Identity Cloud (https://splunkbase.splunk.com/app/6553).
known_false_positives: False positives may occur, depending on the organization's size and the configuration of Okta.
references:
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1539/
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 ("$user$") starthoursago=168  | 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: $info_min_time$
      latest_offset: $info_max_time$
rba:
    message: A user [$user$] is attempting to use a session cookie from multiple IP addresses or devices. Investigate further to determine if this was authorized.
    risk_objects:
        - field: user
          type: user
          score: 20
    threat_objects: []
tags:
    analytic_story:
        - Suspicious Okta Activity
        - Okta Account Takeover
        - Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters
    asset_type: Okta Tenant
    mitre_attack_id:
        - T1539
    product:
        - Splunk Enterprise
        - Splunk Enterprise Security
        - Splunk Cloud
    security_domain: identity
tests:
    - name: True Positive Test
      attack_data:
        - data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/attack_techniques/T1539/okta_web_session_multiple_ip/okta_web_session_multiple_ip.log
          source: Okta
          sourcetype: OktaIM2:log