Malicious Office (OOXML) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 04eb75b9ca127d74…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML)

357.7 KB Created: 2020-05-11 14:19:29 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 15.0300 First seen: 2020-12-25
MD5: d34e2e341f9a29e037bdd91dd0ada4b5 SHA-1: 32ae3258cd4bdeec72f2704a41c661bdc45644b1 SHA-256: 04eb75b9ca127d74f0c0a399b7a13fd3366fe7caaa69a57a0cb5a53d88a2c119
182 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer

The file contains Excel 4.0 macros, which are known to be used for malicious purposes. These macros contain strings indicating they are designed to download a file from the URL http://gaspee.info/ds/161120.gif and execute it. The use of WinAPI functions like URLDownloadToFileA and ShellExecuteA confirms the intent to download and run a payload.

Heuristics 4

  • Excel 4.0 macro sheet (1 sheet(s)) critical 2 related findings OOXML_XLM_MACROSHEET
    Spreadsheet contains an Excel 4.0 (XLM) macro sheet — XLM was a major Office malware vector during 2020-2022 and evaded many VBA-focused controls before Microsoft tightened XLM defaults. Even legitimate XLM use is rare in modern workbooks. The macro sheet is stored as XLSB/BIFF12 binary content, which many XML-only OOXML scanners miss.
  • Binary XLM macro sheet with WinAPI/download strings critical OOXML_XLM_BINARY_WINAPI_STRINGS
    Excel 4.0 macro sheet is stored as BIFF12/XLSB binary data and contains Win32 download or process-execution API strings such as URLDownloadToFileA, ShellExecuteA, or CreateDirectoryA. These strings are high-signal in XLM macro sheets and catch payload-download macros that XML-formula scanners cannot parse.
  • URL reconstructed from XLM cell array (1 URL) critical OOXML_XLM_CELL_ARRAY_URL
    Excel 4.0 macro sheet stages its payload URL across individual numeric cells (one ASCII charcode per cell), inside an embedded HTA that uses VBScript Chr()/&-concat obfuscation, or split across multi-char fragment cells a download formula concatenates by reference (=A1&A2&… / CONCATENATE(...)). The reconstructed URL is invisible to literal-bytes URL extraction because it is never contiguous in the workbook stream. URLs were recovered by walking the BIFF12 record stream of every worksheet and macrosheet part and decoding RK/inline-string/shared-string cells in row-major and column-major order plus FORMULA cell-reference concatenation in token order.
  • 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://gaspee.info/ds/161120.gif Referenced by macro

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_sheet_00.bin xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/sheet1.bin 54253 bytes
SHA-256: 40b1628cbdae65c4fec5b4f5a545be0b9e712b5697840c6db911fe91d8a50bcc
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
�  �  �   @      ��������    �      �       �   �  �  �     r   D   @   d           � $        �                   �   �   �  �  %      ��    & �  ����        �  <         �         <         �         <         8,        <                   < �   �   q         < �   �   8
        �  �  %      ��    &                        �    &�           E       DG      �  Ao      � �       �   T I T J G T R U I T G R U I T G R U I R T G U I G T R U T G R U I T G R T G R I U G T R I U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U S G T R U R T U U T R U   J    � T I T J G T R U I T G R U I T G R U I R T G U I G T R U T G R U I T G R T G R I U G T R I U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U U S G T R U R T U U T R U A�      l�          Y      t g r r g d y y r t g r y g t r y u    y U Y Y U Y R U Y U u y T Y y t T Y y Y E R A0     %      ��    &                        �    �         �   F E R T R J H T R J H T G R H J Y T Y T Y T T G R H J G T R H T R G H H T H J T J H G T R J H T R H J T G R H J T R H J T R G H J T G R H J T G R H J G T R H T R T H J H J T R T R H T R J T R G H J G T R H J G T R H J G T R J H T G R H J G T R J H G T R H J R T G H J G T R H G T R H T G R H T G R H T R T G T G R T R H J T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T H T G H H G T J G T J G T R H J T G R H J R T G H J R T G H J   �    � F E R T R J H T R J H T G R H J Y T Y T Y T T G R H J G T R H T R G H H T H J T J H G T R J H T R H J T G R H J T R H J T R G H J T G R H J T G R H J G T R H T R T H J H J T R T R H T R J T R G H J G T R H J G T R H J G T R J H T G R H J G T R J H G T R H J R T G H J G T R H G T R H T G R H T G R H T R T G T G R T R H J T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T H T G H H G T J G T J G T R H J T G R H J R T G H J R T G H J    R T A0     %      ��    &                        �    �         �   F E R Y T T Y T Y T R J H T R J H T G R H J T G R H J G T R H T R G H H T H J T J H G T R J H T R H J T G R H J T R H J T R G H J T G R H J T G R H J G T R H T R T H J H J T R T R H T R J T R G H J G T R H J G T R H J G T R J H T G R H J G T R J H G T R H J R T G H J G T R H G T R H T G R H T G R H T R T G T G R T R H J T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T H T G H H G T J G T J G T R H J T G R H J R T G H J R T Y T Y T Y T Y T T Y G H J   �    � F E R Y T T Y T Y T R J H T R J H T G R H J T G R H J G T R H T R G H H T H J T J H G T R J H T R H J T G R H J T R H J T R G H J T G R H J T G R H J G T R H T R T H J H J T R T R H T R J T R G H J G T R H J G T R H J G T R J H T G R H J G T R J H G T R H J R T G H J G T R H G T R H T G R H T G R H T R T G T G R T R H J T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T H T G H H G T J G T J G T R H J T G R H J R T G H J R T Y T Y T Y T Y T T Y G H J    R T A0      �         �   F E R T R J H T R J H T G R H J T G R H J G T R H T R G H H T H J T J H G T R J H T R H J T G R H J T R H J T R G H J T G R H J T G R H J G T R H T R T H J H J T R T R H T R J T R G H J G T R H J G T R H J G T R J H T G R H J G T R J H G T G F G R H J R T G H J G T R H G T R H T G R H T G R H T R T G T G R T R H J T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T H T G H H G T J G T J G T R H J T G R H J R T G H J R T G H J   �    � F E R T R J H T R J H T G R H J T G R H J G T R H T R G H H T H J T J H G T R J H T R H J T G R H J T R H J T R G H J T G R H J T G R H J G T R H T R T H J H J T R T R H T R J T R G H J G T R H J G T R H J G T R J H T G R H J G T R J H G T G F G R H J R T G H J G T R H G T R H T G R H T G R H T R T G T G R T R H J T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T H T G H H G T J G T J G T R
... (truncated)