Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 042a439e98b85631…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.0 KB Created: 2020-11-27 11:38:21 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2021-10-07
MD5: 59668609fccb1359749adcf83d19f053 SHA-1: a429558d157a2768aea924e85553277c1aad52e5 SHA-256: 042a439e98b8563198f880be74410b943dd4a092eea21056b10c6fc8824d9cfb
140 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution

The file is an Excel 4.0 macro-enabled workbook containing an Auto_Open function, which is a common technique for executing malicious code upon opening. The presence of dangerous formula APIs like RUN indicates the macro is designed to execute arbitrary commands. While no specific URLs or hashes were extracted, the Auto_Open macro is highly indicative of a downloader or initial execution stage for further malicious activity.

Heuristics 3

  • 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.

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_macros.txt xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 6823 bytes
SHA-256: a42cfd341d34550b9b8c80688818b6ac08dd8b708167537fe969718669a32027
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0085     18 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, visible -  iqaSXKxRr
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - AEkYACyAw len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - aPkdR len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!I154 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - CsRbnhGvGYUs len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - DQGHwq len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - EqyzRDZ len=0 
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - GAjHfLNdc len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - GgpjIASD len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - HiDeFPDFEpH len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ISMdAb len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - JCUxiH len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - JyGvu len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - KQfoPdtXviA len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - MHWUSjw len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - nkEBIbxWnPKS len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - nOljCTVHWjYS len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - qWaTXeFedLck len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - xtyEEVxdeI len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - YfNVdpwwSCqK len=0 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - zJiigQbz len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - zkuRQIERvxgI len=0 
' 002a      2 PRINTHEADERS : Print Row/Column Labels
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ SST
' 00fd     10 LABELSST : Cell Value, String Constant/ S
... (truncated)

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