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

Static analysis result for SHA-256 042ee2ef6adc16c1…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE) / .XLSX

329.5 KB Created: 2006-09-16 00:00:00 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: 68af6abb645cbd0e303b87d436fd1780 SHA-1: 1170454f344774dc69cd0d081f54fcb448e559a9 SHA-256: 042ee2ef6adc16c1972cb50fb42a87a26e17ea1c454c02592e5e0e21284c398e
242 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment

The file contains Excel 4.0 macros, specifically an Auto_Open entry, which is a known technique for executing malicious code. The macro references ShellExecute and uses a dangerous formula API, indicating it's designed to run an external payload. The embedded URL http://cargohl.com/ds/161120.gif is likely the source of this payload, consistent with a downloader attack pattern.

Heuristics 6

  • 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.
  • ClamAV: Doc.Downloader.Docusign0521-9864805-0 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Doc.Downloader.Docusign0521-9864805-0
  • Reference to ShellExecute API high SC_STR_SHELLEXEC
    Reference to ShellExecute API
  • 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.
  • 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 http://cargohl.com/ds/161120.gif�

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_macros.txt
de64c8aedb9841e9622ce89b4c2a59532a2613bac9a0b05117fd5443ba276b2f		 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 7888 bytes

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