Elastic Security Detection Rules

Windows User Account Creation

Last updated 21 days ago on 2025-04-23
Created 4 years ago on 2021-01-04

About

Identifies attempts to create a Windows User Account. This is sometimes done by attackers to persist or increase access to a system or domain.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: WindowsUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: PersistenceData Source: Windows Security Event LogsLanguage: kuery
Severity
low
Risk Score
21
MITRE ATT&CK™

Persistence (TA0003)(opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Create Account (T1136)(opens in a new tab or window)

False Positive Examples
Legitimate local user creations may be done by a system or network administrator. Verify whether this is known behavior in your environment. Local user creations by unfamiliar users or hosts should be investigated. If known behavior is causing false positives, it can be exempted from the rule.
License
Elastic License v2(opens in a new tab or window)

Definition

Rule Type
Query (Kibana Query Language)
Integration Pack
Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Index Patterns
winlogbeat-*logs-system.security*logs-windows.forwarded*
Related Integrations

system(opens in a new tab or window)

windows(opens in a new tab or window)

Query
host.os.type:windows and event.module:("system" or "security") and (event.code:"4720" or event.action:"added-user-account")

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Windows User Account Creation in the Elastic Security detection engine by installing this rule into your Elastic Stack.

To setup this rule, check out the installation guide for Prebuilt Security Detection Rules(opens in a new tab or window).