Windows Security Log Event ID 4672

4672: Special privileges assigned to new logon

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• Description of this event
• Field level details
• Examples
• Mini-seminars on this event

This event lets you know whenever an account assigned any "administrator equivalent" user rights logs on.  For instance you will see event 4672 in close proximity to logon events (4624) for administrators since administrators have most of these admin-equivalent rights. 

So, this is a useful right to detecting any "super user" account logons.  Of course this right is logged for any server or applications accounts logging on as a batch job (scheduled task) or system service.  See Logon Type: on event ID 4624.  You can correlate 4672 to 4624 by Logon ID:.

Note: "User rights" and "privileges" are synonymous terms used interchangeably in Windows.

Admin-equivalent rights are powerful authorities that allow you to circumvent other security controls in Windows.  Most admin equivalent privileges are intended for services and applications that interact closely with the operating system.  With just a few exceptions, most admin equivalent privileges neither need nor should be granted to human user accounts.

Some Microsoft documentation puts this in the "Sensitive Privilege Use / Non-Sensitive Privilege Use" subcategory. However our testing finds this in the "Special Logon" Category.

Free Security Log Resources by Randy

• Free Security Log Quick Reference Chart
• Windows Event Collection: Supercharger Free Edtion
• Free Active Directory Change Auditing Solution
• Free Course: Security Log Secrets

Description Fields in 4672

Subject:

The ID and logon session of the administrator-equivalent user that just logged on.

• Security ID:  The SID of the account.
• Account Name: The account logon name.
• Account Domain: The domain or - in the case of local accounts - computer name.
• Logon ID is a semi-unique (unique between reboots) number that identifies the logon session.  Logon ID allows you to correlate backwards to the logon event (4624) as well as with other events logged during the same logon session.

Privileges:

The names of all the admin-equivalent privileges the user held at the time of logon.

Supercharger Enterprise

 

Mini-Seminars Covering Event ID 4672 Monitoring Privileged Accounts with the Windows Security Log to Catch Lateral Movement by Mimikatz and other Credential Harvesting

 

Upcoming Webinars Assessing the Security of Your Active Directory: User Accounts Anatomy of a Cloud Hack: The Cloudflare/Okta Compromise – A Story of Tokens, Lateral Movement, Persistence and the Salvation of Zero Trust and Hard MFA Tokens

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