Malicious Office (OLE) / .XLS — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 038aa1ef05e87be1…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLS

373.0 KB Created: 2006-09-16 00:00:00 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: 15b27751f6b627b00abd220e28c42e5a SHA-1: 7d31e61b1d01cb76b49bcf33852dc5e5de16c4aa SHA-256: 038aa1ef05e87be177f54ec889a9689b44a8b2e7073caa1950237103cbff7d1e
162 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment T1059.005 Visual Basic T1204.002 Malicious File

The sample is an Excel 4.0 (XLM) macro-enabled spreadsheet that contains an Auto_Open macro, indicating automatic execution upon opening. The macro sheet uses dangerous functions like RUN, suggesting it attempts to execute arbitrary code. The document body and extracted URLs point to external resources, likely for downloading a second-stage payload. The presence of XLM macros and the lure to enable macros are common techniques for initial compromise.

Heuristics 5

  • Excel 4.0 Auto_Open defined name critical OLE_XLM_AUTOOPEN_DEFINEDNAME
    oletools recovered an Auto_Open / Auto_Close entry from an Excel 4.0 macro sheet. The raw BIFF name can be tokenized or partially opaque to byte-string checks, but the recovered macro listing confirms the workbook has an XLM auto-execution entry.
  • XLM Auto_Open with dangerous formula APIs critical OLE_XLM_DANGEROUS_FN
    Excel 4.0 macro sheet contains an Auto_Open / Auto_Close entry and dangerous XLM formula APIs that can invoke programs, write files, or transfer control without VBA.
  • Excel 4.0 (XLM) macro sheet present medium OLE_XLM_AUTOOPEN
    Workbook contains an Excel 4.0 macro sheet sub-stream — XLM is rarely seen in modern legitimate workbooks and was a major Office malware vector during 2020-2022.
  • Macro/content-enable lure medium SE_ENABLE_LURE
    Document instructs the user to enable macros or editing — a common technique used by malware droppers to bypass Office macro security settings
  • Embedded URL info EMBEDDED_URL
    One or more URLs were extracted from the document. The URL itself is not a detection — see the per-URL labels for which channel (macro, JS, link annotation, document body, ...) reached each URL.
    URL https://pfamilydentist.com/OgdaW8AjEF/alex.html
    • https://thevoorpret.com/wQSapbrm9WmH/alex.html

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_macros.txt
7eb5e48f136258965c2495a123fc1d7ae2138b901360da5008973ba86cc22008
xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 5292 bytes