Temporary access pass restricted to one-time use

Maester checks this too

EIDSCA.AT02 (Authentication Method - Temporary Access Pass - One-time.) checks the same setting. Running both reports it twice.

Overview

When Temporary Access Pass (TAP) is configured to allow multiple uses, threat actors who compromise the credential can reuse it repeatedly during its validity period, extending their unauthorized access window beyond the intended single bootstrapping event. This situation creates an extended opportunity for threat actors to establish persistence by registering additional strong authentication methods under the compromised account during the credential lifetime. A reusable TAP that falls into the wrong hands lets threat actors conduct reconnaissance activities across multiple sessions, gradually mapping the environment and identifying high-value targets while maintaining legitimate-looking access patterns. The compromised TAP can also serve as a reliable backdoor mechanism, allowing threat actors to maintain access even if other compromised credentials are detected and revoked, since the TAP appears as a legitimate administrative tool in security logs.

Remediation

• Configure Temporary Access Pass for one-time use in authentication methods policy

Run it

The check runs as part of the whole assessment, with the ZeroTrustAssessment module installed:

Install-Module ZeroTrustAssessment -Scope CurrentUser
Connect-Maester
Invoke-Maester -Pack ZTA -SkipBuiltIn

Leave out -SkipBuiltIn to run Maester’s own checks in the same run.

About this check

Severity	Low
Effort to fix	Low
Impact on users	Low
Pillar	Identity
Category	Access control
Product	Entra ID
Feature	Authentication methods
Area	Authentication
ATT&CK	T1078.004 Cloud Accounts, T1098.005 Device Registration
Licence	P1
Tenant	Workforce, External

Product, feature, area and ATT&CK are Maester’s: the assessment does not record them, so Maester keeps them in the pack’s taxonomy.json.

A Microsoft check, part of the Zero Trust Assessment pack. Text from ZeroTrustAssessment 3.1.0, © Microsoft, MIT licence.