Okta API token created
An Okta API token was created (system.api_token.create).
What it detects
An Okta API token was created (system.api_token.create).
An API token is a long-lived bearer credential for the Okta admin API that inherits the creating admin's privileges and is subject to NO sign-on policy: no MFA, no Conditional Access, no device trust, no session expiry. Minting one converts a session an attacker already has into durable, policy-free administrative access that survives the password reset and MFA re-enrollment that would evict them.
MITRE ATT&CK mapping
False positives and triage
Integrations legitimately need API tokens, so creation during an onboarding or migration is expected — a tenant will have a handful of known service tokens. The signal is a token minted by an admin who does not normally create them, from an unfamiliar IP, outside a change window, or shortly after that admin's own sign-in looked anomalous. Check the token's name and whether it was used immediately. Existing tokens should be inventoried; an unexplained one is a finding on its own.
The rule
Declarative YAML read by the detection engine — data, never executed. Confidence 70%. Source: rules/cloud/okta_api_token_created.yaml, licensed under the Apache License 2.0.
id: cloud.okta.api_token_created
version: 1.0.0
status: stable
severity: high
confidence: 0.7
platforms: [application]
mitre_techniques: [T1098.001, T1078.004]
description: |
An Okta API token was created (`system.api_token.create`).
An API token is a long-lived bearer credential for the Okta admin API that inherits
the creating admin's privileges and is subject to NO sign-on policy: no MFA, no
Conditional Access, no device trust, no session expiry. Minting one converts a
session an attacker already has into durable, policy-free administrative access
that survives the password reset and MFA re-enrollment that would evict them.
match:
provider: Okta
event_action_contains_any:
- system.api_token.create
correlation_keys: [user_name]
false_positive_guidance: |
Integrations legitimately need API tokens, so creation during an onboarding or
migration is expected — a tenant will have a handful of known service tokens. The
signal is a token minted by an admin who does not normally create them, from an
unfamiliar IP, outside a change window, or shortly after that admin's own sign-in
looked anomalous. Check the token's name and whether it was used immediately.
Existing tokens should be inventoried; an unexplained one is a finding on its own.
Related detections
Run this rule on your own logs — offline
KIROSEC runs this rule and the rest of the library over Windows, Linux, macOS and cloud audit logs on the analyst's own machine. Every alert links to the events that raised it, and nothing leaves the device.