Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 116d96c5801e8a6c…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

36.5 KB Created: 2020-11-27 11:41:34 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel First seen: 2021-05-22
MD5: 452cbfa88b76f2720e10ef0bcc4a9846 SHA-1: d695d9a5bcf4976bc06e6fba91fceed0160b76c9 SHA-256: 116d96c5801e8a6c0d79b9a60fe9b351f217fec415df84a5d1e23c2ed4629f22
140 Risk Score

Malware Insights

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

The file contains Excel 4.0 macros, specifically an Auto_Open macro, which is a known technique for executing malicious code upon opening the workbook. The presence of dangerous formula APIs like RUN indicates an intent to execute arbitrary commands. While no specific URLs or hashes were extracted, the macro's functionality strongly suggests it acts as a downloader for a second-stage payload.

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) 6618 bytes
SHA-256: 4d23ccbb3976a8f101fe3b21a7b3ecdba3d79a9b9eaed5bd60e128385a16ecc7
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
' 0085     14 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - worksheet or dialog sheet, visible -  Sheet
' 0085     12 BOUNDSHEET : Sheet Information - Excel 4.0 macro sheet, visible -  qIP
' 0018     23 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - built-in-name 1 Auto_Open len=7 ptgRef3d  Sheet!D199 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - bVolmx len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - EmLCjA len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - HJppzLQ len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - IIkvD len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - IOzaZsV len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - jTZlnB len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - LKCerYOlKf len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - mATWGXGpIkS len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - nMAmzjrqfegM len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - QAWNxzsNNCfx len=0 
' 0018     25 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - tVWqXganZt len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ubjzTxk len=0 
' 0018     22 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - XAwjjEs len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - xEIziCgjvnM len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - xqklUYXOJzqM len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - xxDoPv len=0 
' 0018     27 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - xZSUrHhHInlo len=0 
' 0018     20 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - YGmin len=0 
' 0018     21 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - YWnXyF len=0 
' 0018     26 LABEL : Cell Value, String Constant - ZFNMBKTMTnO 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/ SST
' 00fd     10 
... (truncated)

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