Suspicious DMARC result

Cortex XSIAM Analytics Alert Reference by Alert name

Product
Cortex XSIAM
Last date published
2025-12-08
Category
Analytics Alert Reference
Index by
Alert name

Synopsis

Activation Period

14 Days

Training Period

30 Days

Test Period

N/A (single event)

Deduplication Period

1 Day

Required Data

  • Requires:
    • Microsoft 365 Emails

Detection Modules

Email

Detector Tags

Spoofing

ATT&CK Tactic

Defense Evasion (TA0005)

ATT&CK Technique

Impersonation (T1656)

Severity

Informational

Description

The email has a suspicious DMARC result of either fail or none, which may indicate a potential domain misconfiguration or spoofing.

Attacker's Goals

  • Trick users into clicking on malicious links or attachments.

Investigative actions

  • Check the email address for any unusual spellings.
  • Check the email address for any missing letters.
  • Check the reason DMARC didn't pass and the action.
  • Check if the email was delivered to the recipients based on the action taken, even though DMARC did not pass.
  • Verify whether the sender's IP address has appeared in different log sources before and its reputation.
  • If the message contains attachments/links, scrutinize them for any suspicious indications.
  • Monitor further actions taken, such as file downloads or access to potentially malicious links.

Variations

DMARC deviation from historically compliant domain

Synopsis

ATT&CK Tactic

Defense Evasion (TA0005)

ATT&CK Technique

Impersonation (T1656)

Severity

Informational

Description

  • This deviation may indicate an attempt to spoof or impersonate a legitimate external sender.
  • Such sudden DMARC outcome from a previously trusted external domain warrants further investigation.

Attacker's Goals

  • Trick users into clicking on malicious links or attachments.

Investigative actions

  • Check the email address for any unusual spellings.
  • Check the email address for any missing letters.
  • Check the reason DMARC didn't pass and the action.
  • Check if the email was delivered to the recipients based on the action taken, even though DMARC did not pass.
  • Verify whether the sender's IP address has appeared in different log sources before and its reputation.
  • If the message contains attachments/links, scrutinize them for any suspicious indications.
  • Monitor further actions taken, such as file downloads or access to potentially malicious links.


DMARC failure bypassed domain policy

Synopsis

ATT&CK Tactic

Defense Evasion (TA0005)

ATT&CK Technique

Impersonation (T1656)

Severity

Informational

Description

  • This indicates the message should have been rejected according to the domain owner policy, but was instead accepted and delivered, potentially exposing the user to email spoofing or phishing.
  • This suggests a potential policy bypass or misconfiguration in mail filtering.

Attacker's Goals

  • Trick users into clicking on malicious links or attachments.

Investigative actions

  • Check the email address for any unusual spellings.
  • Check the email address for any missing letters.
  • Check the reason DMARC didn't pass and the action.
  • Check if the email was delivered to the recipients based on the action taken, even though DMARC did not pass.
  • Verify whether the sender's IP address has appeared in different log sources before and its reputation.
  • If the message contains attachments/links, scrutinize them for any suspicious indications.
  • Monitor further actions taken, such as file downloads or access to potentially malicious links.


DMARC failed with non-enforcing policy

Synopsis

ATT&CK Tactic

Defense Evasion (TA0005)

ATT&CK Technique

Impersonation (T1656)

Severity

Informational

Description

  • This may indicate an overly permissive DMARC configuration on the sender side and could allow unauthenticated messages to reach users' inboxes.
  • Such configurations are often exploited in phishing or spoofing campaigns, and should be treated with caution.

Attacker's Goals

  • Trick users into clicking on malicious links or attachments.

Investigative actions

  • Check the email address for any unusual spellings.
  • Check the email address for any missing letters.
  • Check the reason DMARC didn't pass and the action.
  • Check if the email was delivered to the recipients based on the action taken, even though DMARC did not pass.
  • Verify whether the sender's IP address has appeared in different log sources before and its reputation.
  • If the message contains attachments/links, scrutinize them for any suspicious indications.
  • Monitor further actions taken, such as file downloads or access to potentially malicious links.